Journal of the New York Botanical Garden

VOL. XXVIII JUNE, 1927 No. 330
JOURNAL
OF
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
FURTHER BOTANICAL STUDIES IN PORTO RICO
N. L. BRITTON
THE PALMETTO- PALM— SABAL TEXANA
JOHN K. SMALL
TULIPS
KENNETH R. BOYNTON
THE FANNY BRIDGHAM FUND
N. L. BRITTON
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT
ACCESSIONS
PUBLISHED FOB THE GARDEN
AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA.
THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY
Entered at the post- office in Lancaster, Pa., as second- class matter.
Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents
Free to members of the Garden
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BOARD O F MANAGERS
FREDERIC S. LEE, President
HENRY W. DE FOREST, Vice President
F. K. STURGIS, Vice President
JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer
N. L. BRITTON, Secretary
EDWARD D. ADAMS
HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
CHARLES P. BERKEY
PAUL D. CRAVATH
ROBERT W. DE FOREST
CHILDS FRICK
WILLIAM J. GIES
R. A. HARPER
JOSEPH P. HENNESSY
JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York
WALTER R. HERRICK, President of the Department of Parks
ADOLPH LEWISOHN
KENNETH K. MACKENZIE
BARRINGTON MOORE
J. P. MORGAN
LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS
FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD
H. HOBART PORTER
CHARLES F. RAND
HERBERT M. RICHARDS
HENRY H. RUSBY
GEORGE J. RYAN
MORTIMER L. SCHIFF
WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS
R. A. HARPER, P H . D., Chairman
CHARLES P. BERKEY, P H . D.
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, P H . D.,
LL. D., LITT. D.
WILLIAM J. GIES, P H . D.
FREDERIC S. LEE, P H . D., LL. D.
HERBERT M. RICHARDS, SC. D.
HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D.
GEORGE J. RYAN
GARDEN STAFF
N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D Director- in- Chief
MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director
JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums
A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories
P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator
H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator
FRED. J. SEAVER, P H . D Curator
ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist
PERCY WILSON Associate Curator
PALMYRE DE C MITCHELL Associate Curator
JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer
SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian
H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections
ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses
MARY E. EATON Artist
KENNETH R. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener
ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant
H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium
E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds
JOHN R. BRINLEY, C E Landscape Engineer
WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant
ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds
JOURNAL
OF
The New York Botanical Garden
VOL. XXVIII JUNE, 1927 No. 330
FURTHER BOTANICAL STUDIES IN PORTO RICO
To THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS OF T H E NEW YORK BOTANICAL
GARDEN.
Gentlemen: By permission of the Board of Managers, I was
absent from the Garden, accompanied by Mrs. Britton, during the
period January 20 to April 4, 1927, engaged in continuation of
studies of the botany and horticulture of Porto Rico, as a part of
the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands prose­cuted
by the New York Academy of Sciences, the results of which
are now in course of publication.
Four volumes of the reports of this Survey, each of four parts,
have been assigned to plants ( Volumes V— VIII) of these, Vol­ume
V, published in four parts, and the first three parts of Vol­ume
VI ( 1924- 1926) contain a Descriptive Flora of the Seed-bearing
Plants ( Spermatophyta) written by me with the assis­tance
of Percy Wilson, and of the Ferns and Fern- allies ( Pteri­dophyta)
by Dr. William R. Maxon; the fourth part of this Vol­ume
VI is reserved for the Mosses and Moss- allies ( Bryophyta) ;
the investigation is in progress by Elizabeth G. Britton and Pro­fessor
Alexander W. Evans. Of Volume VII, the first two parts,
dealing with the Plant Ecology of Porto Rico, written by Dr. H.
A. Gleason and Dr. Mel T. Cook, have recently been published
( 1927) ; part 3, reserved for Palaeobotany, written by Dr. Arthur
Hollick, is nearly complete for publication; part 4 is reserved for
Economic Botany, under its subdivisions Agriculture, Horticul­ture,
Pharmacology, and Forestry, for contribution by Commis­sioner
Carlos E. Chardon, Otis W. Barrett, Dr. H. H. Rusby, and
William P. Kramer. Of Volume VIII, Part I ( 1926), Mycology
of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, enumerates the Fungi and
125
126
Slime- moulds, written by Dr. Fred J. Seaver and Commissioner
Chardon, with contributions by Professor H. H. Whetzel, Pro­fessor
Frank D. Kern, and R. A. Toro; parts 2 and 3 are re­served
for Lichenology, in preparation by Professor Bruce Fink,
and Phycology ( Algae), in preparation by Dr. Marshall A.
Howe, Professor Nathaniel L. Gardner, Dr. H. Printz, and Mr.
Robert Hagelstein; supplementary matter and an index to the
four volumes of botanical documents will form part 4 of this
volume.
Interrelations of plants and animals have been given much at­tention
by several investigators during the progress of the Sur­vey
; in order to increase this knowledge and at the same time con­tribute
to Entomolog3% Charles W. Leng, Director of the Staten
Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, accompanied us for about
five weeks, for further studies of beetles ( Coleoptera). To facili­tate
this investigation, we selected typical plant associations in
many parts of Porto Rico, from sea- level to the mountain sum­mits,
determining the food- plants of beetles and their ecology;
Mr. Leng detected a number of species hitherto unrecorded from
Porto Rico, some of them new to science and undescribed.
Hoping to increase knowledge of the extinct vegetation of
Porto Rico, we spent much time in seeking fossil plants in the
older rocks in the vicinity of Aibonito, where fragmentary speci­mens
were found by Geologist E. T. Hodge about ten years ago,
and recorded by him ( Scientific Survey, Vol. 1. p. 192). Architect
Anton Nechodoma and Engineer W. D. Noble, of San Juan,
joined us in this search, and although we examined several tons
of rock at several points in the area indicated by Mr. Hodge, we
failed to find any recognizable plant fossils. Definite information
about the Mesozoic flora of the West Indies must await further
discovery. On the other hand, Dr. Hollick's study of the large
collection of Tertiary plant fossils made by us last year at the
Collazo River, gives us much knowledge of the vegetation of the
Oligocene Period in Porto Rico, soon to be published.
Visits were made to known localities for several of the rarer
living trees'; the deforestation of the region has sadly reduced the
number of some of the kinds of trees, among them some of high
value. The Pimienta angola ( Anamomis) of the Myrtle Family
is known, for example, only in one individual, a fine large tree
127
FIGURE I. Photograph of a mahogany tree planted in 1905 in the plaza
of Bayamon, Porto Rico, in honor of Dr. Agustin Stahl, distinguished
naturalist. ( Taken by Enrique Verges, of Bayamon.)
128
standing in the forest of Miss Clara Livingston at Sardinera on
the northern coast; Cobana negra ( Stahlia monosperma) of the
Cassia Family is apparently confined to three colonies, two small
ones near together on the eastern coast near Ceiba, the other,
larger, near the western coast near Boqueron; Palo polio ( Ptero­carpus)
of the Pea Family Is now known only in swampy woods
near the Playa de Humacao, where it has recently been much re­duced
by lumbering; several mountain trees have not been ob­served
at all in recent years and may be eliminated. The opera­tions
of the Forest Service are tending to restore much needed
woodlands to Porto Rico, but its officers have not, as yet, been
provided with the areas, nor the means requisite for this work, all
important for the welfare of the colony; in the nurseries of the
Forest Service at Rio Piedras, over three hundred kinds of trees
have been brought together for experimental purposes.
Studies were made of the planting in several of the plazas of
Porto Rico cities, some of them elegant and well maintained; the
plaza of Guayama is one of the best, and here the preservation of
plants is implored by numerous wooden sign- boards, worded in
Spanish of high originality by Pharmacist Bruno of that city,
and erected by the municipality; a translation of one of these re­cites,
" The plants are unable to defend themselves; therefore do
not attack them." The luxuriance of the vegetation would indi­cate
that Senor Bruno's effort has not been in vain.
In the plaza of Bayamon, the planting is simple, of trees only,
but one of these trees is noteworthy, perhaps the most highly
esteemed one in Porto Rico; it is protected by a low concrete
wall, bearing a tablet with a Spanish legend which, translated,
records " This mahogany tree was planted in 1905 in honor of the
distinguished Porto Rican naturalist, Agustin Stahl" [ FIGURES
1 and 2] ; it is now about thirty feet high. Dr. Stahl was a medical
practitioner at Bayamon from 1865 until his death in 1917; dur­ing
this period he made important studies of plants, animals, and
aboriginal implements; he published a book, now very rare, en­titled
" Estudios sobre La Flora de Puerto Rico " ( 1883- 1888).
Additional species brought into the nurseries of the Forest Ser­vice,
the Agricultural Experiment Stations, and the Department
of Agriculture during 1926 were observed with interest and ap­preciation,
and private gardens were cordially thrown open for
129
our studies by their owners. We spent two days with President
J. W. Harris and Mrs. Harris at the Polytechnic Institute of
Porto Rico at San German and discussed with them their inter­esting
proposition to establish a tropical arboretum on the Insti­tute
grounds; I have outlined for them a tentative scheme for
grouping the trees to be planted, with reference to the kinds
already there.
We were guests on two occasions of Mr. Emilio M. Verges,
2nd, at Maunabo, and from this estate as a base, conveniently
visited interesting points on and near the southern coast, among
them the old garden of the late' Mr. Lind, near Arroyo, where
some fine old trees remain, among them the largest and oldest
mahoganies existing in Porto Rico; these bore an enormous crop
of fruit, just ripe, which was soon afterward collected by Forest
Chief W. P. Kramer to obtain the seeds, much desired for for­estry
purposes; mahogany is not native in Porto Rico, and seeds
previously planted by the Forest Service were only obtained from
other islands, with considerable loss; this readily available source
of seed is certain to be of importance in the work of reforestation.
Examination of the many water- color paintings recently made
of Porto Rico flowering plants by Mrs. Frances W. Home, for­merly
at Mayaguez, now at Santurce, gave us much pleasure, and
we selected twelve of them for reproduction in Addisonia, addi­tional
to those already published in that journal; her collection of
these paintings, now including over one hundred and twenty spe­cies,
was exhibited one afternoon to the biology class of the Uni­versity
of Porto Rico and visitors, under the direction of Pro­fessor
and Mrs. Dexter, and on this occasion I addressed the
meeting, with especial reference to the species endemic in Porto
Rico, and to the accuracy and beauty of Mrs. Home's talented
work.
Visits to the new School of Tropical Medicine at San Juan,
conducted in cooperation with Columbia University, were of great
interest, and especially demonstrations there by Dr. Ashford of
his noteworthy investigations of the minute fungi inhabiting the
human digestive organs; at a meeting of students and visitors held
at this school, under the chairmanship of Dr. Lambert, I outlined
the present status of the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the
Virgin Islands.
130
FIGURE 2. Detail of the base and tablet of the mahogany tree planted
in the plaza of Bayamon as a memorial to Dr. Agustin Stahl. See also
FIGURE I.
i3i
Two visits were made to the United States Agricultural Ex­periment
Station and to the College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts at Mayaguez; we are indebted to Mr. D. W. May, Director
of this station, and Mrs. May, to Mr. T. B. McClelland, horticul­turist,
and his mother, and to Professor H. T. Cowles, Acting
Dean of the College, and Mrs. Cowles, for information and hos­pitality.
It was my privilege to discuss with his Excellency, Governor
Towner, and with many men of science and other citizens, a re­cent
proposition for the establishment and maintenance of a new
investigational School of Tropical Agriculture, and the avail­ability
of Porto Rico as a locality for such an institution; its
almost exclusively agricultural industries, with soils of great di­versity,
wide differences of rainfall in different areas, elevations
from sea- level to over four thousand feet, and its easy accessibil-rty
from all other parts of America were cited as paramount ad­vantages.
A request by Don Miguel Colon, manager of the Coamo Springs
Hotel, for information about the trees growing on the grounds
of the hotel, to enable him to answer many inquiries by guests, led
up to my writing brief accounts of them, for printing in Spanish
and in English, as a pamphlet for distribution; numbers were
affixed to one or more trees of each kind, and the accounts num­bered
to correspond, a method of giving information suggested by
Mr. Anton Nechodoma. The translation into Spanish has been
made by Mrs. John Smith Dexter, University of Porto Rico.
In continuation of previous studies of the natural vegetation
and of plants introduced for economic and aesthetic purposes we
collected material of about four hundred species, including about
two thousand specimens, obtaining many duplicates for exchange
with other institutions.
Respectfully submitted,
N. L. BRITTON,
Director- in- Chief.
132
THE PALMETTO- PALM— SABAL TEXANA
( WITH TEXT FIGURES 3- 5)
Rio de las Palmas was the first name for the international river
now called the Rio Grande. This name occurs on an early Span­ish
map ( Cantino, 1502) of North America, perhaps the first
made. The name, evidently, was suggested to the navigator by
the groves of palm trees along its banks. By this evidence, al­though
indirect, we may safely assume that this palm— Sabal
texana— was the first palm seen by a European on the North
American mainland.
Only four arborescent palms occur in the continental United
States outside of Florida, ( 1) the cabbage- tree ( Sabal Palmetto)
of our southeastern Atlantic region, ( 2) the delta- palm ( Sabal
Deeringiana) of the Mississippi River delta, ( 3) the fanleaf- palm
( Neowashingtonia robusta) of the southern Californian deserts,
and ( 4) the Texas cabbage- tree or palmetto- palm ( Sabal texana).
The fourth one remained undiscovered at least from a botanical
standpoint, for nearly or quite three centuries after its relative of
the Atlantic seaboard and that of the Pacific slope were well
known, and extensively cultivated.
Apparently the first note of importance that appeared in refer­ence
to the Texas cabbage- tree was written by Arthur V. Schott. 1
1 Arthur Carl Victor Schott was born 27 February, 1814, at Stutt­gart,
Wurttemberg. He was educated in h, is native city, and at the
institute of agriculture in the neighboring village of Hohenheim. He
then managed various estates in Germany, and was for ten years in
charge of a mining property in Hungary. In 1848 he traveled through
southern Europe, Turkey, and Arabia. In 1850, already an accom­plished
linguist, artist, and naturalist, he came to America, where he
almost immediately made the acquaintance of Professor John Torrey,
of New York. In the following year he was appointed a surveyor on
the Mexican Boundary Survey, and in September, 1851, sailed from
Xew York to New Orleans, and then proceeded overland, in company
with C. C. Parry, to El Paso; from San Antonio, J. M. Bigelow was
also a member of the party. Schott spent the entire year 1852 on or
near the lower Rio Grande, with headquarters most of the time at
Eagle Pass; some of his surveys were in a region never since visited
by a botanist. At first he collected plants on his own account, but
later he was officially authorized to collect not only plants but also
specimens in other branches of natural history. After a few months,
133
It is as follows: " I t is also in the lower portion of this belt
[ Coastal plain of Texas] ( where the Palm tribe is represented by
the Chamaerops Palmetto) that the Palmetto attains a growth as
gorgeous even as that on the lower Mississippi; it extends on the
Rio Bravo [ Rio Grande] up to about 80 miles from the Gulf."
" In addition to the Palmetto common to the lower portions of
these two great rivers, the constant appearance of a Tillandsia
( Spanish moss) depending from the branches of the trees in long
clusters increases the similarity of their scenery. Whilst the ex­istence
of this moss pronounces a higher degree of atmospheric
moisture here than in the country above, the occurrence of the
Palmetto may indicate the vicinity of the sea." 2
The reference to a " gorgeous " growth of the cabbage- tree
( Sabal Palmetto) on the lower Mississippi River seemed not as
fantastic as Mark Catesby's reference to its occurrence in New
England ( see article on the cabbage- tree3), but it was, up to last
year, unexplainable. However, we now know that Arthur Schott's
record should have been taken as an interesting clue for investi­gation.
The clue was not followed up; but after a lapse of three-quarters
of a century, this palm was rediscovered by mere acci­dent.
. On the tenth day of April, 1925, while driving from Point
aux Herbes on Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans, Edgar T.
Wherry and the writer unexpectedly came upon a grove of palms
which evidently represent the kind referred to by Arthur Schott
in the above quotation. To meet with erect- stemmed palms far
from February to April, in Washington and New York, he returned
to the field in May, 1853, going overland to New Orleans and across
country to the Rio Grande. Before the end of the year he was again
in Washington, working on official reports for the survey. Late in
1854 he again took the field, at the western end of the Boundary, going
by way of the Isthmus to San Francisco, and returning down the coast
to San Diego, where he arrived about the first of November. Most
of the year 1855 he spent along the lower Colorado River and in
Sonora, and in 1856 and 1857 was at Washington, still connected with
the Boundary Survey. Late in 1857 he spent several months with a
surveying party in the Atrato River region of Colombia. The re­mainder
of his life was spent in the employ of various governmental
bureaus in Washington, where he died 26 July, 1875.— JOHN HENDLEY
BARNHART.
2 Report, United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, i 2 : 44. 1857.
3 Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 24: 145- 158, 1923.
134
out of the known range of any such plant was a great surprise. A
first glance at the trees naturally suggested the cabbage- tree
( Sabal Palmetto). A second glance indicated something quite
different. This palm, although resembling the cabbage- tree in
habit, is really related to the blue- stem ( Sabal minor). As this
discovery was the direct outcome of the interest and cooperation
of Mr. Charles Deering, this palm has been named Sabal Deer-ingiana.*
Shortly after Schott's note appeared, the country inhabited by
the palm under consideration was referred to by C. C. Parry5 in
the following sentence: " The flora of this strip of country
[ Coastal Plain of Texas] is too well known to require an account
here, had we the necessary data for describing its characteristic
botanical productions." 6 The italics are ours. Now, whatever
this sentence may have been intended to mean is not clear, but it
4 Torreya 26: 34- 36. 1926.
5 Charles Christopher Parry was born 28 August, 1823, at Adming-ton,
Gloucestershire, England. He came to America with his parents
before he was ten years old, and his boyhood was spent on a farm in
Washington County, New York. He was educated at Union College,
and at Columbia, where he made the acquaintance of Professor John
Torrey, who encouraged the interest he had already felt in botany.
Receiving his medical degree in 1846, he went at once to Davenport,
Iowa, which was his home throughout nearly fifty years of wandering,
as a plant collector and intelligent field- observer. He was botanist of
Owen's geological survey of the North- west, in 1848, and of the Mexi­can
Boundary Survey, in 1849- 51, and was at various times connected
with other exploring and surveying parties, but when not so affiliated,
he spent nearly every season in private botanical collection. Besides
his work on the flora of Iowa and neighboring states, he acquired a
critical field- knowledge of the plants of the entire Rocky Mountain
region, the Pacific coast, the south- western states, and northern Mex­ico.
He was always on the lookout for new plants worthy of cultiva­tion,
and many were introduced by him; he was the discoverer of the
blue spruce, the nut pine, the Parry lily, and a host of other plants
now well known. Many species of plants were named for him, and
serve as perpetual reminders of his career both to the botanist and the
horticulturist. Late in the year 1889 he returned from a visit to vari­ous
parts of the northern Atlantic coast to his home at Davenport,
where he died 20 February, 1890. His herbarium, of many thousand
specimens, was purchased by the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames.
— J. H. B.
6 Report United States and Mexican Boundary Survey 2: 9. 1859.
135
FIGURE 3. In a virgin part of a palm grove, where the broad- leaved
plants and palms meet and mingle. In some places the palms dominate,
in other places the broad- leaved plants. If all the fruit of the palm would
germinate and survive, other vegetation would be driven out, but animals
evidentlv help to maintain the present balance. The cedar- elm ( Ulmus
crassifoia), Texas- ebony ( Siderocarpos flexicaulis), mimosa ( Leucaena
pulverulenfa), ash { Fraxinus Berlandieri), and acacia ( Acacia Berlandieri)
often grow with the palm.
136
may have been the cause of retarding botanical exploration in that
region, which was then really almost a virgin botanical field and
it has remained almost in the same condition up to the present
time. The flora of the region in question certainly was not then
" well known," as the above- cited quotation starts out to say.
The real reason for the lack of knowledge concerning the Texas
cabbage- tree was that it grows in a part of Texas that was for a
long time difficult of access and sparsely populated. When the
species was first brought to light it was confused with the eastern
cabbage- tree ( Sabal Palmetto) and later associated with a differ­ent
kind of palm native in southern Mexico, named Sabal mexi­cana.
It was not until in 1901 the plant was given the specific
name of texana1 by O. F. Cook, 8 and shown to be different from
the palms with which it had been confused and associated by
name.
Less, apparently, has been written about the Texan cabbage-tree
than about any other of our palms.
Following are the principal notes that have appeared in print
relating to it after the one cited on a preceding page. In a paper
by Valery Havard9 entitled " Econofnic Notes on the Texana-
Mexican Flora," it is said that the palm in question grows:
7 Inodes texana O. F. Cook, Bull. Torrey Club 28: 534. 1901. Sabal
texana Becc, Webbia 2: 78. 1907.
8 Orator Fuller Cook was born at Clyde, New York, 28 May, 1867.
He graduated at Syracuse University in 1890, and was an instructor
there the following year. For the next seven years, as special agent
for the New York State Colonization Society, he made many visits to
Liberia; since 1898, at first as agent and later as botanist for tropical
agriculture and bionomist of the United States Department of Agricul­ture,
he has repeatedly visited various parts of tropical America. Ever
since 1898, also, he has been an assistant curator and custodian in the
United States National Museum. His scientific interests are of un­usual
breadth, embracing myriapods and general biologic problems as
well as studies on economic plants of tropical regions.— J. H. B.
* Valery Havard was born 18 February, 1846, near Compiegne,
France. Coming to America as a young man, he was graduated at
Manhattan College, New York City, in 1869, and received his profes­sional
degree from the New York University Medical College the same
year. In 1874 he entered the medical corps of the United States Army,
in which he was in active service continuously, rising by successive
stages to the grade of Assistant Surgeon General and rank of colonel,
until retired automatically upon reaching the age limit, 18 February,
137
" In sparse clumps from the mouth of the Rio Grande up the
river to Edinborough, from 20 to 30 feet high, apparently iden­tical
with the Palmetto of South Carolina." 10
In a paper relating to Texan plants, by Sereno Watson/ 1 this
cabbage- tree is referred to as follows: " A palm which in the
1910. It was chiefly in h, is earlier experience at various frontier posts,
in the West, that he devoted much time to the study of economic bot­any,
as well as of the food- plants and drink- plants of Indians, Mexi­cans,
and early settlers. He showed a decided inclination to the useful
and attractive qualities of plants, and it is as a student of such, per­haps,
that he is best known to botanists, although he has published a
number of articles dealing with the flora of Montana, North Dakota,
Texas, Colorado, and Cuba. We may especially refer to the " Reports
of the chief of engineers, U. S. A.." for the years 1878 and 1880, and
more particularly to the " Report on the Flora of Western and South­ern
Texas," published by the U S. National Museum in 1885. While
in Cuba, in 1901, he also published in The Plant World " Notes on
Trees of Cuba,'' of much interest to northern tree- lovers. In 1898, in
our war with Spain, he went to Cuba with a cavalry division, rising to
the rank of chief surgeon of all U. S. troops on the island, and playing
a very important part in expelling yellow fever from it. In 1902, he
was sent as delegate to an International Conference in Brussels, Bel­gium,
and to special manoeuvers of the Medical Department near
Paris, France. In 1904, he was detailed as medical attache with the
Russian Army , in Manchuria. While near Mukden he was captured
by the Japanese and obliged to return by way of Yokohama, an un­expected
event which greatly extended the field of his experience. In
1906, he was transferred to the Surgeon General's office, in Washing­ton,
where he remained on duty until retirement in 1910. Several
years later, in our war with Germany, still enjoying good health, he
offered his services to the government and was sent to Cuba to reor­ganize
the medical department of the army and navy, remaining over
four years in that capacity, and receiving the Cuban " Order of Mili­tary
Merit." In recent years he has been living in retirement at Fair­field,
Connecticut.— J. H. B.
i10 Proceedings, United States National Museum 8: 524- 1885.
11 Sereno Watson was born 1 December, 1826, at East Windsor Hill,
Connecticut. He was graduated from Yale in 1847, spent nine years
( 1847- 56) teaching school and studying medicine ( he took no medical
degree), and five years ( 1856- 61) in the insurance business at Greens­boro,
Alabama. At the beginning of the Civil War he returned to
Connecticut, and became an assistant in literary work to Dr. Henry
Barnard, of Hartford. In 1867 he went to California, and in July of
that year entered the camp, on the Truckee River, Nevada, of Clarence
138
139
present imperfect knowledge of the species cannot be distin­guished
from Sabal mexicana was collected by Berlandier ( n.
877, " Corypha edulis ") near Matamoros, and has more recently
been found on the Texan side of the Rio Grande near Browns­ville
by Dr. Gorgas12 and by Prof. C. S. Sargent. . . . It is said
to be frequently 20 or 25 feet high, with a well- defined trunk 10
or 12 inches in diameter. The petioles are very stout ( 1^ 2 inches
broad at the summit), with a Hgule 6 inches long, and the blade
( 3 feet long or more) cleft a third of the way down between the
plaits, which are an inch broad. The spadix is elongated and
slender; the calyx and petals ( J} 4 lines long) strongly nerved.
The berries are often in pairs, 9 lines in diameter, sweet and
edible; seeds 5 or 6 lines broad by 3 ^ thick, very much larger
than those of any of the Atlantic States' species." 13
A few years later, C. S. Sargent14 published the following note:
King, then in charge of the geological survey of the Fortieth Parallel.
He remained as a voluntary assistant to the botanist of the survey,
who was in poor health, and in March of the following year, by official
appointment, succeeded him. Thus, at the age of forty, he first de­voted
his energies to the science with which his name will always be
associated. He had long taken some interest in plant study, but his
volume on the botany of this survey at once established his reputation
as a scholarly and critical botanist. He became curator of the her­barium
at Harvard in 1870, and so continued for nearly twenty- two
years. His health was permanently impaired by an illness contracted
while on a collecting trip in Guatemala, in 1885, but he continued his
active work of study and publication until his death; this occurred at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 9 March, 1892.— J. H. B.
112 William Crawford Gorgas was born 3 October, 1854- at Mobile,
Alabama, and died in London, England, 4 July, 1920. A graduate of
the University of the South, in 1875. and of Bellevue Medical College,
in 1879, he entered the medical corps of the United States Army in
1880, being surgeon general from 1914 to his death in 1920. His early
service, like that of most young army surgeons, was at western posts.
His later work in the attack upon yellow fever, resulting in the elimi­nation
of that disease from Cuba and the Panama Canal Zone, brought
him many honors, and spread his fame throughout the world.— J. H. B.
13 Proceedings American Academy 25: 135. 1890.
14 Charles Sprague Sargent was born 24 April, 1841, at Boston, Mas­sachusetts.
After graduation from Harvard University in 1862, he
entered the army, leaving the service at the end of the Civil War as
brevet major of volunteers. He was director of the Arnold * Arbo-retum,
at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, from its establishment in
140
" In Texas, where it was first detected about seventy years ago
by the Belgian botanist Berlandier, 15 Sabal mexicana grows in the
rich soil of the bottom- lands of the Rio Grande from the neigh­borhood
of Edinburg nearly to the Gulf, with Ulmus crassifolia,
Acacia Berlandieri, Fraxinus Berlandieriana, Leucaena pulveru-lenta,
and Erythrina herbacea." 16
The distribution of Sabal texana is confined to a comparatively
small area in the lower Rio Grande Valley. It grows along the
banks of the river, but not on the Gulf of Mexico. Occasionally
one or two trees are found on the banks of the resacas. On the
Texas side of the Rio Grande, beginning at El Salado ranch, ten
miles below Brownsville, the first palms appear in the bend of the
river. Thence they extend up the river three or four miles, in
great abundance. On the Burns' ranch at San Rafael, which ad­joins
El Salado, the palms form large clumps along the river
bank and along the bank of a resaca, which lies within the same
ranch. On the Singer ranch, which adjoins the Burns' ranch, a
very beautiful grove is located between the river and a resaca,
and further up, on the Frank Rabb ranch, the most beautiful
grove of all is located. There the palm trees and a tall cane form
dense thickets or jungles. The palms grow to a height of about
fifty feet and reach their perfection in the last- mentioned grove.
1872 to his death, 22 March, 1927, and thus devoted about fifty- five
years to the study of woody plants. His work in the development of
the Arboretum, and his numerous elaborate publications, have made
his name familiar to all botanists and tree- lovers.— J. H. B.
15 Jean Louis Berlandier was born at Ghent, Belgium, about the
beginning of the nineteenth century. From 1823 to 1826 he was at
Geneva, Switzerland, studying under de Candolle the genus Ribes.
His monograph of this genus was published in 1826, and his treatment
of the same group for de Candolle's Prodromus in 1828. Meanwhile
he had gone to Mexico, and settled as an apothecary at Matamoros,
near the mouth of the Rio Grande, which was his home for the rest of
his life. His plant- collections were numerous, and are represented in
various herbaria; the earlier ones were made in Tamaulipas, Nuevo
Leon, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi; later he made much larger col­lections
in western Texas. He was drowned while crossing a small
stream near Matamoros, in 1851. His manuscripts and drawing are
preserved at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. The com­posite
genus Berlandiera was dedicated to him by de Candolle, and
many species of plants have been named in his honor.— J. H. B.
16 Silva 10: 43. 1896.
141
142
Heller's hackberry ( Celtis Helleri), from which the long- moss
( Dendropogon usneoides) hangs in great abundance, mimosa
( Leucaena pulverulenta), ash ( Fraxinus Berlandieri), and a tall
cane ( called carrizo by the Mexicans) are the principal plants that
accompany the palmetto- palm on the Rabb ranch, but in addition
to the plants just mentioned, there occur prickly- pear ( Opuntia
Lindheimeri), dildoe ( Acanthocereus pentagonus), ball- moss
( Tillandsia recurvata), Texan- ebony ( Siderocarpos flexicaulis),
and a number of twining vines. The grove contains about ioo
acres of palms. This paragraph and the succeeding ones are
based upon information furnished by Robert Runyon, 17 of
Brownsville, Texas, and observation by the writer in the spring of
1925.
Above the Rabb ranch only a very few scattering palms are
found on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and there are none
above Santa Maria, which is about 60 miles from the Gulf of
Mexico.
On the Mexico side of the Rio Grande the distribution is con­fined
to a narrow strip along the river. A very pretty grove is
located on the Santa Rosa ranch six or seven miles below Mata­moros,
and a few scattered palms grow along the banks of the
river as far up as the Huasteca ranch. There a large grove ex­tends
about a mile along the river. With the exception of some
trees in Matamoros, the above lines indicate about all the palm
growth on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
Other associated plants in addition to those mentioned above,
and the plants that are common nearly everywhere, are the cedar-elm
( Ulmus crassifolia) and the river- cypress ( Taxodium mu-cronatum).
The common name of Sabal texana, in and around Brownsville,
Texas, is palmetto- palm, while the Mexicans term it " La Palma
17 Robert Runyon was born 28 July, 1881, at Catlettsburg, Boyd
County, Kentucky. In March, 1909, he left Kentucky for Brownsville,
Texas, which has since remained his home. He is a photographer by
profession, and is one of the proprietors of a curio shop in Matamoros,
Tamaulipas, across the river from Brownsville. He was interested in
botany before leaving Kentucky, and has familiarized himself with the
flora of the lower Rio Grande valley, on both the Texan and the Mexi­can
sides of the river. The genus Runyonia was named in his honor
by Rose, and several of the many species discovered by him bear his
name.— J. H. B.
143
de Micharo." The palmetto- palm is extensively cultivated as an
ornamental, and trees may commonly be seen in the yards and the
plazas of towns of the lower Rio Grande Valley, from Point
Isabel to Santa Maria.
The leaves are used as a thatch to cover houses, by the poorer
class of Mexicans. The little houses are called " jacals." The
trunks are used for posts, which are durable in contact with the
soil and last a lifetime. The fruits are edible, and they are sold
in the markets of Brownsville and Matamoros under the name of
" Micharo."
The palmetto- palm grows from thirty to fifty feet tall, and is
very erect, with a round naked trunk when the tree is matured;
but while young the leaf- stalks ( boots) cling to the trunks and
form a lattice work. The crown of leaves is round and always
light- green in color. The leaves do not freeze in cold weather as
easily as do those of other cultivated palms. Its growth is slow,
and a period of twenty- five to thirty- five years is required for a
tree to mature, but when once established it is very hardy. It is
difficult to transplant, but grows readily from seed.
Sabal texana forms dense jungles in some localities with a tall
cane and the hackberry, mimosa, and ash mentioned above, and a
mixture of other small trees and shrubs. In other localities it
grows in fields now cultivated in the river bottoms.
The trees and shrubs that accompany Sabal texana are numer­ous,
in fact nearly every tree that grows in the lower Rio Grande
Valley, occasionally grows with or near the palms. The ones
mentioned above are the most common in the palm groves.
JOHN K. SMALL.
TULIPS1
The constant recurrence of the tulip in flower, in poetry, in gar­den
lecture is justified, if only to keep before the public the name
of a flower preeminently useful for home, window box, city gar­den,
suburban grounds, and country estate.
The tulip ( from the Persian toliban, meaning turban) is a wild-flower
of countries bordering the Mediterranean, such as Pales-
1 Abstract of illustrated lectures given at The New York Botanical
Garden on May 15, 1926, and May 7, 1927.
144
tine, and many kinds are found in Turkestan and in Bokhara, in
the Asiatic desert.
Persons interested in tulip species may see many in the Rock
Garden in The New York Botanical Garden. The tulip of culti­vation
came from Turkish gardens in and around Constantinople.
Most tulips grown during the " tulipomania," the Holland craze
of 1653, were of the striped and feathered flowers known as bi-zarres,
bybloems, etc. The wild tulips have usually pointed, nar­row
petals; and the Dutch, by constant selection, secured broad
rounded petals. These cup- shaped flowers, with gay, striped
colors, were grown up until 1850, over a period of time known
as a quiet one in tulip circles as compared to the craze of the
1600' s. In the middle of the last century the tulip staged a " come­back.''
In 1854 a perusal of a list of some 150 varieties of spring
tulips gives us only bizarres, bybloems, and " roses," all old classes
and with names now unrecognized; by 1874, one finds listed some
of the early single varieties with same names as those that now
bloom in our gardens. These early single varieties have short
stocky flowers with colors yellow, white, pink, pink and white,
purple, and red. There are also double forms of the early tulip.
Then, the " cottage" tulips, slender vase- shaped flowers with
pointed petals and clear but delicate shades of yellow, pink, and
red, came upon the scene. It is said that these tulips received
their name on account of being collected from various old cottage
gardens of England. It is possible to conceive of seedlings, from
old round- petaled tulips, going back to their ancestral character
of narrow, pointed petals. The cottage tulip is taller and more
graceful than the early, and its color more striking. In many
varieties the fragrance, too, is distinct.
The Darwin tulip race came from French seedlings, and repre­sents
a distinct type. It has varieties with tall stems, up to 30
inches, with cup- shaped flowers whose petals are thick, almost
fleshy, and consequently very durable and lasting when cut. This
type has been the most desired of late in gardens. Another group
of tulips, the " Breeder " type, contains varieties also tall and
thick petaled, especially noted and admired for color effects, of
old gold and bronze, of plum, purple, and certain mahogany-brown
shades.
Recommending varieties of the modern tulip for any one par­ticular
use or situation is quite unnecessary. They appear in-
145
dividually; it is a matter of the grower's or viewer's taste. For
instance, one might cite the so- called " Black Tulip." One reads
in the novel of that name by Dumas, which is about the tulip-fanciers
of Holland in the time of William of Orange, of the
quest for the black tulip, of the guarding and care of the three
bulbs eventually produced by Van Baerle, the hero, of the jeal­ousy
of his neighbor Boxtel and said neighbor's consequent at­tempt
to obtain the three precious bulbs; and of the later flower­ing
of the " black tulip" under the loving care of the heroine of
the tale, and the prize of 100,000 florins for it. Today the black
tulip is represented in our collections by a group of " La Tulipe
Noire", an almost black Darwin, and by Faust, Zulu, and others
of the same shade. Perhaps one would today award the prize
to a tulip variety of another color.
An idea often expressed about tulips by persons not well ac­quainted
with them concerns a short season of bloom. This idea
is usually changed after visits to The New York Botanical Garden,
where nearly 250,000 tulips have bloomed in the last eight years.
Yearly visitors have learned that the whole of a planting of 60,-
000 will not bloom at the same time. This season ( 1927) proves
no exception, as the first bloomed in late winter over a warm cellar,
and before the late Darwin tulips are through, the month of May
will be gone. The division of our big collections into early and
late seasons being of about equal proportions, one half, of early
kinds, is planted in the Court of Conservatory Range No. 1, the
other, of late sorts, is planted below the Rock Garden, at the
Fordham Hospital entrance. These tulips, 114 varieties, show
what the possibilities are in stretching the season of bloom, so
much so that they must be viewed at least three times during the
season to get all the beauties of the display. They include ma­terial
for a long spring season of great delight for large or small
garden. The early single tulips give the widest range of color
variation. The striking quality of these early varieties, excluding
the whites and some of the pink and whites, is their brightness.
This is true especially of the reds, one of the earliest of which is
Vermilion Brilliant. Prince of Austria, orange- red, comes a few
days later. The most brilliant of the reds, one of good substance
and lasting qualities, is Couleur Cardinal, cardinal- red with oval
blooms and pointed petals. The outside first color of such a vari­ety
is almost a plum red, but, as with all the other colors, the de-
146
velopment is gradual and the true tone does not show until the
flower is quite old. Three yellow varieties are in the garden dis­play,
Yellow Prince an early round, Mon Tresor, a mid- season
sort with lasting qualities, and Rising Sun, an open cup of golden
tone. Leading away from red on the other side toward the pur­ples
is a fine carmine- purple, Proserpine. This tulip is a long,
strong bloomer, which is fragrant, and endures for several years.
Two with blue tones are Wouverman, a large claret- purple, and
Van der Neer, a large tulip, violet- purple, practically blue at ma­turity.
The well- known series of pink and white tulips, ranging
FIGURE 6. Some of the early tulips in the court of Conservatory Range
No. 1, April 29, 1927. Photograph by Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham.
from Pink Beauty with rich cherry color down to Rose Hawk
which barely escapes being white, are all excellent bedding sorts,
and while not so showy, are used more in garden combinations
where light touches are needed. The early double tulips present
a very uniform material for bedding, the height and size of bloom
being very constant. The yellow Mr. Van der Hoeff, the yellow
and red Titian, and the variety Tea Rose, made up of pink, white,
and yellow shadings like certain tea roses, are well liked.
The later tulips, which are now perhaps the most popular, are
represented by seventy- seven varieties.
The arrangement of groups of Darwin and other tulips against
backgrounds of evergreens and early flowering shrubs provides a
147
magnificent setting for them. The planting of various perennials
which flower at tulip time under and among the blooms is a com­ing
feature with spring gardens. Mrs. Charlotte Cowdrey Brown,
in " Gardens to Color," gives the following combinations: Alys­sum
saxatile com pactum with bronzy tulips; Bellis perennis with
pink and white tulips; Mertensia virginica with pale yellow tulips,
as Moonlight, etc.; Phlox divaricata with Fawn and other tulips;
Forget- me- not with tulips Tea Rose, Safrano or other doubles, or
Baronne de la Tonnaye, rose pink; primroses ( yellow) with Rev.
Ewbank, Zulu, La Tristesse, La Tulipe Noire, and other Darwins.
With the planting of tulips in beds and borders with Iris and
other flowers becoming usual, combinations from the garden of
Mrs. E. A. S. Peckham, as outlined in Bulletin 20 of the Amer­ican
Iris Society, are adaptable to this purpose.
Some of these combinations follow :
Tulip Bouton d'Or
Iris Half dan
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Moonlight
Tulip Bronze Queen
Iris Ingeborg
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip The Fawn
Iris Ingeborg
Iris Fritjof
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Tulip Inglescombe Yellow
Iris Dolphin
Alyssum saxatile
Tulip Bouton d'Or
Camassia Leichtlini
Tulipa Clusiana
Phlox divaricata
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulipa Gesneriana ixioides
Tulip Miss Wilmott
Wisteria
Pansies ( purple)
Tulip Paladin
Tulip The Fawn
Iris The Bride or Ingeborg
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Tulip Jubilee
Tulip Sophrosyne
Iris Fritjof
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulip Flamingo
Tulip Copernicus
Iris Marechal Victor
Tulip Bleu Aimable
Tulip Honeymoon
Iris Fritjof
Iris Queen Flavia
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulip Sophros} rne
Iris germanica
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulip Cardinal Manning
Tulip Sir Harry
White Wisteria
Iberis
148
Tulip Galatea
Muscari Argaei
Phlox subulata lilacina
Tulip Sir Harry
Iris Charmant
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulipa fulgens lutea pallida
Alyssum saxatile
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Bronze Queen
Tulip Moonlight
Iris Fritjof
Phlox divaricata
Tulip Inglescombe Yellow
Tulip Dainty Maid
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Rev. Ewbank
Iris florentina
Iris germanica
Tulip Sir Harry
Iris florentina
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulip Gretchen ( Margaret)
Iris Charmant
Primula veris
Tulip Sir Harry
White Violets
Bechtel's Flowering Crab
Tulip Avis Kennicott
Tulip Moonlight
Wisteria chinensis
Phlox divaricata canadensis
( Laphamii var.)
Tulip Prince Albert
Tulip Flava
Iris florentina
Myosotis
Tulip Galatea
Primula Sieboldi
Phlox divaricata canadensis
KENNETH R. BOYNTON.
THE FANNY BRIDGHAM FUND
In 1920, the Garden received an unconditional bequest of $ 30,-
000 from Mrs. Samuel Bridgham, which, at the meeting of the
Board of Managers on January 10, 1921, was designated " The
Fanny Bridgham Fund ' n by the adoption of the following reso­lution
:
" Resolved, That the legacy of $ 30,000 received from the estate
of Mrs. Fanny Bridgham be designated a permanent fund under
the name ' Fanny Bridgham Fund,' and that its income be used,
after investment, for the purchase and binding of books for the
library, unless otherwise ordered by the Board of Managers."
The income of this endowment, about $ 1,400 annually, has been
of noteworthy help in building up the library, during the six years
11 Journal, N. Y. Bot. Gard. 22: 45, 46. 1921.
149
of its expenditure for this purpose, this collection of botanical and
horticultural literature having now become, through the use of
this fund and others, one of the largest anywhere brought to­gether,
including over 35,000 bound volumes and many thousand
pamphlets.
Mrs. Bridgham was a sister of the late Mrs. John Innes Kane,
who has also contributed liberally to endowment funds of the
Garden and otherwise aided its work; they were daughters of the
late Mr. William C. Schermerhorn, who gave $ 10,000 to the orig­inal
fund of $ 250,000 required by the Act of Incorporation, to
enable the Commissioner of Public Parks to appropriate land for
the use of the Garden in 1895. Mr. Samuel Bridgham, before his
marriage to Miss Fanny Schermerhorn, was by taste and profes­sion
a botanical artist; he made several hundred of the drawings
used for figures in the " Illustrated Flora of the Northern States
and Canada."
N. L. BRITTON.
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT
Dr. John K. Small spent parts of April and May in the Gulf
States, from Florida to Louisiana, collecting rootstocks of native
irises. Plants were collected from scores of colonies, particularly
in southern Louisiana and peninsular Florida. More than half a
ton of rootstocks were shipped from the field. In addition to the
material installed at the Garden, a plantation representing all the
species and forms gathered was installed at Fourway Lodge,
Coconut Grove, Florida. While in Louisiana he had the cooper­ation
of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Svihla, whose observations on the
native irises during a residence in that state have added very ma­terially
to our knowledge of this little- known group of plants.
Meteorology for April. The total precipitation for the month
was 2.84 inches. The maximum temperatures recorded at the
Garden for each week were 67" on the 7th, 72° on the 16th, 95.5°
on the 20th, and 65° on the 27th. The minimum temperatures
were 30° on the 4th, 28° on the nth, 31° on the 14th, and 31° on
the 24th.
150
ACCESSIONS
BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY OF DR. J. H. BARNHART,
PURCHASED 1926 ( CONTINUED)
Alii della Societd Toscana di scienze naturali residente in Pisa. Vols.
2- 7. Pisa, 1879- 91.
AUBERT r u PETIT- THOUARS, AUBERT. Cours de phytologie ou de botanique
generate. Primicre seance— Introduction; Seconde seance— Phy-tognomie.
Paris, 1819- 20.
. Cours de phytologie ou de botanique generale, divise en vingt
seances. Paris, 1828.
. Discours sur Venseignement de la botanique. [ Paris, 1814.]
. Genera nova madagascariensia, secundum methodum Jussiae-anam
disposita. [ Paris, 1806.]
Histoire d'un morceau de bois, precedee d'un essai sur la seve
consideree comme resultat de la vegetation. Paris, 1815.
. Le verger francais; ou, traite general de la culture des arbres
fruitiers qui croissent en pleine terre dans les environs de Paris.
Paris, 1817.
. Notice historique sur la pepinicre du roi au Route. Paris, 1825.
•. Observations sur I'enlevemeni d'un anneau complet d'ecorce.
[ Paris, n. d.]
. Phytologie; ou, tablcait general de la botanique. n. p., n. d.
Treizieme essai. Notice historique sur la nature et les fonc-tions
de la moelle et du liber, n. p., n. d.
BETTANY, GEORGE THOMAS. Life of Charles Darzvin. London, 1887.
Catalogue des plantes que la societe botanique de Copenhague pent offrir
a, ses membres au printemps 1877— 180,7. [ Kj0benhavn, 1877- 1897].
COMSTOCK, JOHN LEE. An introduction to the study of botany. Ed. 3.
New York, 1835.
Ed. 4, New York, 1837.
Ed. 16, New York, 1848.
Ed. 18, New York, 1849.
Ed. 22, New York, 1850.
Ed. 30, New York, 1854.
Ed. 38, New York, 1870.
COMSTOCK, JOHN LEE, & COMSTOCK, J. C The illustrated botany. Vol. 1.
New York, 1847.
COOK, MOEDECAI CUBITT. A plain and easy account of British fungi, with
special reference to the esculent and economic species. [ Ed. 3].
Edinburgh, 1904.
Fungi: their nature, influence, and uses. London, 1875.
. New York, 1900.
Handbook of British Hepaticae. Edinburgh, 1907.
Index fungorum brittannicorum. London [ 1865].
One thousand objects for ihe microscope. London, n. d.
I 5 i
. Rust, smut, mildew, & mould. Ed. 3. London, 1872.— Ed. 5.
London, 1886.
COOPER, SAMUEL. A dissertation on the properties and effects of the Da­tura
stramonium or common thorn- apple; and on its use in medicine.
Philadelphia, 1797.
CRUGER, HERMAN. Outline of the flora of Trinidad. London, 1858-
CURLEY, EDWIN A. Nebraska, its advantages, resources, and drawbacks.
New York, 1875.
CUSACK, MARY FRANCES. A history of the city and county of Cork. Dub­lin,
1875.
DAME, LORIN Low, & BROOKS, HENRY. Handbook of the trees of New
England. Boston, 1902.
DANA, MRS. WILLIAM STARR. HOW to know the wild flowers. Ed. 5.
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DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT. Insectivorous plants. New York, 1886.
. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. New
York, n. d.
. The origin of species by means of natural selection. New York,
n. d.
. The movements and habits of climbing plants. Ed. 2., rev.
New York, 1888.
— -. The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species.
New York, 1886.
DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT, & DARWIN, FRANCIS. The power of movement
in plants. New York, 1888.
DARWIN, ERASMUS. The botanic garden. Fifth American edition. New
York, 1798.
DELILE, ALIRE RAFFENEAU. Memoire sur le Madura aurantiaca. n. p.
[ 1835].
DENNSTEDT, AUGUST WILHELM. Nomenclator botanicus; seu, enumeratio
alphabetica omnium hucusque cognitorum vegeiabilium. Part 1.
Eisenbergae, 1810.
DESCEMET, JEAN. Catalogue des plantes du Jardin de Mrs- les apoticaires
de Paris. [ Ed. 2] Paris, 1759.
DESHAYF. S, PIERRE MARIE. Carte botanique de la methode naturelle d'A.
L. de Jussieu. Paris, an IX ( 1801).
DESMAZIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE HENRI JOSEPH. Observations botaniques et
soologiques. Lille, 1826.
DEVRIES, WILLIAM L. Spring plants of St. Paul's School. St. Paul's
School, 1882.
DEWAR, DOUGLAS, & FINN, FRANK. The making of species. London, 1909.
Dictionnaire botanique et pharmaceutique. 2 vols. Paris, an X ( 1802).
Die international Polarforschung 1882- 1883. Die deutschen Expeditionen
und ihre Ergebnisse. 2 vols. Berlin, 1890- 91.
DIETEL, PAUL. Beitrage zur Morphologic und Biologic der Uredineen.
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DIETRICH, FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB. Neu entdeckte Pfianzen. Vols. 1- 8, 10.
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DILLENIUS, JOHANN JAKOB. Catalogus plantarum circa Gissam sponte nas-centium.
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DONN, JAMES. Hortus cantabrigiensis. Ed. 4. Cambridge, 1807.
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DOWNING, ANDREW JACKSON. The fruits and fruit trees of America. Ed.
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DRAKE, DANIEL. Natural and statistical view; or, picture of Cincinnati
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DREJER, SALOMON THOMAS NICOLAI. Revisio critica Caricum borealium in
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DUBEN, MAGNLTS WILHELM VON. Conspectus vegetationis Scaniae. Lun-dae,
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. Handbook i vextrikets naturliga familjer. Stockholm, 1841.
. Ed. 2, edited by F. W. C. Areschong. Stockholm, 1870.
DUPPA, RICHARD. Elements of the science of botany as established by Lin­naeus.
2 vols. London, 1809.
EASTWOOD, ALICE. Bergen's botany; key and flora, Pacific Coast edition.
Boston, 1901.
. Rocky Mountain edition. Boston. 1900.
EATON, DANIEL CADY. A list of the genera of mosses, revised from Dr.
Sauerbeck's list in the Supplement of Jaeger & Sauerbeck's Adum-bratio
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ECKER, ALEXANDER. Lorenz Oken; a biographical sketch. London, 1883.
EDWARDS, EDWARD. Lives of the founders of the British museum with
notices of its chief augmenlors and other benefactors. 1570- 1870.
London, 1870.
EGEDE, HANS. A description of Greenland. Ed. 2. London, 1818.
EICHLER, AUGUST WILHELM. Syllabus der Vorlesungen uber Phaneroga-menkunde.
Kiel, 1876.
— . Syllabus der Vorlesungen uber specielle und medicinisch- Phar-maceuiische
Botanik. Ed. 3. Berlin, 1883.— Ed. 4. Berlin, 1886.—
Ed. 5. Berlin, 1890.
ELKAN, LOUIS. Tentamcn monographiae generis Papaver. Regimontii
Borussorum, 1839.
SCHINZ, SALOMON. Primae lineae botanicae ex tabulis phytographicis CI.
D. Joannis Gesneri ductae. Turici, 1775.
SCHRADER, HEINRICH ADOLPH. Hortus gottingensis. Gottingae, 1809.
SCHULTZ, FRIEDRICH WILHELM. Beitrag zur Kenntniss der deutschen Oro-banchen.
Miinchen, 1829.
TRAILL, CATHARINE PARR ( STRICKLAND). Canadian wild flowers; painted
and lithographed by Agnes Fitzgibbon. Montreal, 1868.
TRATTINNICK, LEOPOLD. Thesaurus botanicus. Viennae, 1819.
MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION
Dr. Robert Abbe
Edward D. Adams
Vincent Astor
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Stephen Baker
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Prof. Charles P. Berkey
C. K. G. Billings
George Blumenthal
George P. Brett
George S. Brewster
Prof. N. L. Britton
Prof. Edw. S. Burgess
Dr. Nicholas M. Butler
Prof. W. H. Carpenter
Marin Le Brun Cooper
Paul D. Cravath
James W. Cromwell
Henry W. de Forest
Robert W. de Forest
Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow
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Samuel W. Fairchild
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Mrs. Robert Bacon Mrs.
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William H. Woodin
HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mrs. E. Henry Harriman Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes
GENERAL INFORMATION
Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden
are:
Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part
of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native
hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract.
Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and
flowering plants.
Gardens, including a beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock-loving
plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens.
Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America
and foreign countries.
Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn
displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water-lilies,
gladioli, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of
greenhouse- blooming plants.
A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families,
local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York,
and the economic uses of plants.
An herbarium, comprising more than one million specimens of Amer­ican
and foreign species.
Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies,
Central and South America, for the study and collection of the character­istic
flora.
Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified
problems of plant life.
A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 35,000 books
and numerous pamphlets.
Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing
throughout the year.
Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical scientific, and
partly of popular, interest.
The education of school children and the public through the above
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and forestal subjects.
The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the
City of New York, private benefactions and membership fees. It
possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for
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Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000
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Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000
Member for Life single contribution 250
Fellowship Member annual fee 100
Sustaining Member annual fee 25
Annual Member annual fee 10
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The following is an approved form of bequest:
/ hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under
: he Laws of Neiv York, Chapter 285 of 1891, the sum of
All requests for further information should be sent to
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BRONX PARK, NEW YORK CITY

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VOL. XXVIII JUNE, 1927 No. 330
JOURNAL
OF
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
FURTHER BOTANICAL STUDIES IN PORTO RICO
N. L. BRITTON
THE PALMETTO- PALM— SABAL TEXANA
JOHN K. SMALL
TULIPS
KENNETH R. BOYNTON
THE FANNY BRIDGHAM FUND
N. L. BRITTON
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT
ACCESSIONS
PUBLISHED FOB THE GARDEN
AT LIME AND GREEN STREETS, LANCASTER, PA.
THE SCIENCE PRESS PRINTING COMPANY
Entered at the post- office in Lancaster, Pa., as second- class matter.
Annual subscription $ 1.00 Single copies 10 cents
Free to members of the Garden
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BOARD O F MANAGERS
FREDERIC S. LEE, President
HENRY W. DE FOREST, Vice President
F. K. STURGIS, Vice President
JOHN L. MERRILL, Treasurer
N. L. BRITTON, Secretary
EDWARD D. ADAMS
HENRY DE FOREST BALDWIN
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER
CHARLES P. BERKEY
PAUL D. CRAVATH
ROBERT W. DE FOREST
CHILDS FRICK
WILLIAM J. GIES
R. A. HARPER
JOSEPH P. HENNESSY
JAMES J. WALKER, Mayor of the City of New York
WALTER R. HERRICK, President of the Department of Parks
ADOLPH LEWISOHN
KENNETH K. MACKENZIE
BARRINGTON MOORE
J. P. MORGAN
LEWIS RUTHERFURD MORRIS
FREDERIC R. NEWBOLD
H. HOBART PORTER
CHARLES F. RAND
HERBERT M. RICHARDS
HENRY H. RUSBY
GEORGE J. RYAN
MORTIMER L. SCHIFF
WILLIAM BOYCE THOMPSON
SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS
R. A. HARPER, P H . D., Chairman
CHARLES P. BERKEY, P H . D.
NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, P H . D.,
LL. D., LITT. D.
WILLIAM J. GIES, P H . D.
FREDERIC S. LEE, P H . D., LL. D.
HERBERT M. RICHARDS, SC. D.
HENRY H. RUSBY, M. D.
GEORGE J. RYAN
GARDEN STAFF
N. L. BRITTON, P H . D., SC. D., LL. D Director- in- Chief
MARSHALL A. HOWE, P H . D., SC. D Assistant Director
JOHN K. SMALL, P H . D., SC. D Head Curator of the Museums
A. B. STOUT, P H . D Director of the Laboratories
P. A. RYDBERG, P H . D Curator
H. A. GLEASON, P H . D Curator
FRED. J. SEAVER, P H . D Curator
ARTHUR HOLLICK, P H . D Paleobotanist
PERCY WILSON Associate Curator
PALMYRE DE C MITCHELL Associate Curator
JOHN HENDLEY BARNHART, A. M., M. D Bibliographer
SARAH H. HARLOW, A. M Librarian
H. H. RUSBY, M. D Honorary Curator of the Economic Collections
ELIZABETH G. BRITTON Honorary Curator of Mosses
MARY E. EATON Artist
KENNETH R. BOYNTON, B. S Head Gardener
ROBERT S. WILLIAMS Administrative Assistant
H. M. DENSLOW, A. M., D. D Honorary Custodian of Local Herbarium
E. B. SOUTHWICK, P H . D Custodian of Herbaceous Grounds
JOHN R. BRINLEY, C E Landscape Engineer
WALTER S. GROESBECK Clerk and Accountant
ARTHUR J. CORBETT Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds
JOURNAL
OF
The New York Botanical Garden
VOL. XXVIII JUNE, 1927 No. 330
FURTHER BOTANICAL STUDIES IN PORTO RICO
To THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORS OF T H E NEW YORK BOTANICAL
GARDEN.
Gentlemen: By permission of the Board of Managers, I was
absent from the Garden, accompanied by Mrs. Britton, during the
period January 20 to April 4, 1927, engaged in continuation of
studies of the botany and horticulture of Porto Rico, as a part of
the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands prose­cuted
by the New York Academy of Sciences, the results of which
are now in course of publication.
Four volumes of the reports of this Survey, each of four parts,
have been assigned to plants ( Volumes V— VIII) of these, Vol­ume
V, published in four parts, and the first three parts of Vol­ume
VI ( 1924- 1926) contain a Descriptive Flora of the Seed-bearing
Plants ( Spermatophyta) written by me with the assis­tance
of Percy Wilson, and of the Ferns and Fern- allies ( Pteri­dophyta)
by Dr. William R. Maxon; the fourth part of this Vol­ume
VI is reserved for the Mosses and Moss- allies ( Bryophyta) ;
the investigation is in progress by Elizabeth G. Britton and Pro­fessor
Alexander W. Evans. Of Volume VII, the first two parts,
dealing with the Plant Ecology of Porto Rico, written by Dr. H.
A. Gleason and Dr. Mel T. Cook, have recently been published
( 1927) ; part 3, reserved for Palaeobotany, written by Dr. Arthur
Hollick, is nearly complete for publication; part 4 is reserved for
Economic Botany, under its subdivisions Agriculture, Horticul­ture,
Pharmacology, and Forestry, for contribution by Commis­sioner
Carlos E. Chardon, Otis W. Barrett, Dr. H. H. Rusby, and
William P. Kramer. Of Volume VIII, Part I ( 1926), Mycology
of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, enumerates the Fungi and
125
126
Slime- moulds, written by Dr. Fred J. Seaver and Commissioner
Chardon, with contributions by Professor H. H. Whetzel, Pro­fessor
Frank D. Kern, and R. A. Toro; parts 2 and 3 are re­served
for Lichenology, in preparation by Professor Bruce Fink,
and Phycology ( Algae), in preparation by Dr. Marshall A.
Howe, Professor Nathaniel L. Gardner, Dr. H. Printz, and Mr.
Robert Hagelstein; supplementary matter and an index to the
four volumes of botanical documents will form part 4 of this
volume.
Interrelations of plants and animals have been given much at­tention
by several investigators during the progress of the Sur­vey
; in order to increase this knowledge and at the same time con­tribute
to Entomolog3% Charles W. Leng, Director of the Staten
Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, accompanied us for about
five weeks, for further studies of beetles ( Coleoptera). To facili­tate
this investigation, we selected typical plant associations in
many parts of Porto Rico, from sea- level to the mountain sum­mits,
determining the food- plants of beetles and their ecology;
Mr. Leng detected a number of species hitherto unrecorded from
Porto Rico, some of them new to science and undescribed.
Hoping to increase knowledge of the extinct vegetation of
Porto Rico, we spent much time in seeking fossil plants in the
older rocks in the vicinity of Aibonito, where fragmentary speci­mens
were found by Geologist E. T. Hodge about ten years ago,
and recorded by him ( Scientific Survey, Vol. 1. p. 192). Architect
Anton Nechodoma and Engineer W. D. Noble, of San Juan,
joined us in this search, and although we examined several tons
of rock at several points in the area indicated by Mr. Hodge, we
failed to find any recognizable plant fossils. Definite information
about the Mesozoic flora of the West Indies must await further
discovery. On the other hand, Dr. Hollick's study of the large
collection of Tertiary plant fossils made by us last year at the
Collazo River, gives us much knowledge of the vegetation of the
Oligocene Period in Porto Rico, soon to be published.
Visits were made to known localities for several of the rarer
living trees'; the deforestation of the region has sadly reduced the
number of some of the kinds of trees, among them some of high
value. The Pimienta angola ( Anamomis) of the Myrtle Family
is known, for example, only in one individual, a fine large tree
127
FIGURE I. Photograph of a mahogany tree planted in 1905 in the plaza
of Bayamon, Porto Rico, in honor of Dr. Agustin Stahl, distinguished
naturalist. ( Taken by Enrique Verges, of Bayamon.)
128
standing in the forest of Miss Clara Livingston at Sardinera on
the northern coast; Cobana negra ( Stahlia monosperma) of the
Cassia Family is apparently confined to three colonies, two small
ones near together on the eastern coast near Ceiba, the other,
larger, near the western coast near Boqueron; Palo polio ( Ptero­carpus)
of the Pea Family Is now known only in swampy woods
near the Playa de Humacao, where it has recently been much re­duced
by lumbering; several mountain trees have not been ob­served
at all in recent years and may be eliminated. The opera­tions
of the Forest Service are tending to restore much needed
woodlands to Porto Rico, but its officers have not, as yet, been
provided with the areas, nor the means requisite for this work, all
important for the welfare of the colony; in the nurseries of the
Forest Service at Rio Piedras, over three hundred kinds of trees
have been brought together for experimental purposes.
Studies were made of the planting in several of the plazas of
Porto Rico cities, some of them elegant and well maintained; the
plaza of Guayama is one of the best, and here the preservation of
plants is implored by numerous wooden sign- boards, worded in
Spanish of high originality by Pharmacist Bruno of that city,
and erected by the municipality; a translation of one of these re­cites,
" The plants are unable to defend themselves; therefore do
not attack them." The luxuriance of the vegetation would indi­cate
that Senor Bruno's effort has not been in vain.
In the plaza of Bayamon, the planting is simple, of trees only,
but one of these trees is noteworthy, perhaps the most highly
esteemed one in Porto Rico; it is protected by a low concrete
wall, bearing a tablet with a Spanish legend which, translated,
records " This mahogany tree was planted in 1905 in honor of the
distinguished Porto Rican naturalist, Agustin Stahl" [ FIGURES
1 and 2] ; it is now about thirty feet high. Dr. Stahl was a medical
practitioner at Bayamon from 1865 until his death in 1917; dur­ing
this period he made important studies of plants, animals, and
aboriginal implements; he published a book, now very rare, en­titled
" Estudios sobre La Flora de Puerto Rico " ( 1883- 1888).
Additional species brought into the nurseries of the Forest Ser­vice,
the Agricultural Experiment Stations, and the Department
of Agriculture during 1926 were observed with interest and ap­preciation,
and private gardens were cordially thrown open for
129
our studies by their owners. We spent two days with President
J. W. Harris and Mrs. Harris at the Polytechnic Institute of
Porto Rico at San German and discussed with them their inter­esting
proposition to establish a tropical arboretum on the Insti­tute
grounds; I have outlined for them a tentative scheme for
grouping the trees to be planted, with reference to the kinds
already there.
We were guests on two occasions of Mr. Emilio M. Verges,
2nd, at Maunabo, and from this estate as a base, conveniently
visited interesting points on and near the southern coast, among
them the old garden of the late' Mr. Lind, near Arroyo, where
some fine old trees remain, among them the largest and oldest
mahoganies existing in Porto Rico; these bore an enormous crop
of fruit, just ripe, which was soon afterward collected by Forest
Chief W. P. Kramer to obtain the seeds, much desired for for­estry
purposes; mahogany is not native in Porto Rico, and seeds
previously planted by the Forest Service were only obtained from
other islands, with considerable loss; this readily available source
of seed is certain to be of importance in the work of reforestation.
Examination of the many water- color paintings recently made
of Porto Rico flowering plants by Mrs. Frances W. Home, for­merly
at Mayaguez, now at Santurce, gave us much pleasure, and
we selected twelve of them for reproduction in Addisonia, addi­tional
to those already published in that journal; her collection of
these paintings, now including over one hundred and twenty spe­cies,
was exhibited one afternoon to the biology class of the Uni­versity
of Porto Rico and visitors, under the direction of Pro­fessor
and Mrs. Dexter, and on this occasion I addressed the
meeting, with especial reference to the species endemic in Porto
Rico, and to the accuracy and beauty of Mrs. Home's talented
work.
Visits to the new School of Tropical Medicine at San Juan,
conducted in cooperation with Columbia University, were of great
interest, and especially demonstrations there by Dr. Ashford of
his noteworthy investigations of the minute fungi inhabiting the
human digestive organs; at a meeting of students and visitors held
at this school, under the chairmanship of Dr. Lambert, I outlined
the present status of the Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the
Virgin Islands.
130
FIGURE 2. Detail of the base and tablet of the mahogany tree planted
in the plaza of Bayamon as a memorial to Dr. Agustin Stahl. See also
FIGURE I.
i3i
Two visits were made to the United States Agricultural Ex­periment
Station and to the College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts at Mayaguez; we are indebted to Mr. D. W. May, Director
of this station, and Mrs. May, to Mr. T. B. McClelland, horticul­turist,
and his mother, and to Professor H. T. Cowles, Acting
Dean of the College, and Mrs. Cowles, for information and hos­pitality.
It was my privilege to discuss with his Excellency, Governor
Towner, and with many men of science and other citizens, a re­cent
proposition for the establishment and maintenance of a new
investigational School of Tropical Agriculture, and the avail­ability
of Porto Rico as a locality for such an institution; its
almost exclusively agricultural industries, with soils of great di­versity,
wide differences of rainfall in different areas, elevations
from sea- level to over four thousand feet, and its easy accessibil-rty
from all other parts of America were cited as paramount ad­vantages.
A request by Don Miguel Colon, manager of the Coamo Springs
Hotel, for information about the trees growing on the grounds
of the hotel, to enable him to answer many inquiries by guests, led
up to my writing brief accounts of them, for printing in Spanish
and in English, as a pamphlet for distribution; numbers were
affixed to one or more trees of each kind, and the accounts num­bered
to correspond, a method of giving information suggested by
Mr. Anton Nechodoma. The translation into Spanish has been
made by Mrs. John Smith Dexter, University of Porto Rico.
In continuation of previous studies of the natural vegetation
and of plants introduced for economic and aesthetic purposes we
collected material of about four hundred species, including about
two thousand specimens, obtaining many duplicates for exchange
with other institutions.
Respectfully submitted,
N. L. BRITTON,
Director- in- Chief.
132
THE PALMETTO- PALM— SABAL TEXANA
( WITH TEXT FIGURES 3- 5)
Rio de las Palmas was the first name for the international river
now called the Rio Grande. This name occurs on an early Span­ish
map ( Cantino, 1502) of North America, perhaps the first
made. The name, evidently, was suggested to the navigator by
the groves of palm trees along its banks. By this evidence, al­though
indirect, we may safely assume that this palm— Sabal
texana— was the first palm seen by a European on the North
American mainland.
Only four arborescent palms occur in the continental United
States outside of Florida, ( 1) the cabbage- tree ( Sabal Palmetto)
of our southeastern Atlantic region, ( 2) the delta- palm ( Sabal
Deeringiana) of the Mississippi River delta, ( 3) the fanleaf- palm
( Neowashingtonia robusta) of the southern Californian deserts,
and ( 4) the Texas cabbage- tree or palmetto- palm ( Sabal texana).
The fourth one remained undiscovered at least from a botanical
standpoint, for nearly or quite three centuries after its relative of
the Atlantic seaboard and that of the Pacific slope were well
known, and extensively cultivated.
Apparently the first note of importance that appeared in refer­ence
to the Texas cabbage- tree was written by Arthur V. Schott. 1
1 Arthur Carl Victor Schott was born 27 February, 1814, at Stutt­gart,
Wurttemberg. He was educated in h, is native city, and at the
institute of agriculture in the neighboring village of Hohenheim. He
then managed various estates in Germany, and was for ten years in
charge of a mining property in Hungary. In 1848 he traveled through
southern Europe, Turkey, and Arabia. In 1850, already an accom­plished
linguist, artist, and naturalist, he came to America, where he
almost immediately made the acquaintance of Professor John Torrey,
of New York. In the following year he was appointed a surveyor on
the Mexican Boundary Survey, and in September, 1851, sailed from
Xew York to New Orleans, and then proceeded overland, in company
with C. C. Parry, to El Paso; from San Antonio, J. M. Bigelow was
also a member of the party. Schott spent the entire year 1852 on or
near the lower Rio Grande, with headquarters most of the time at
Eagle Pass; some of his surveys were in a region never since visited
by a botanist. At first he collected plants on his own account, but
later he was officially authorized to collect not only plants but also
specimens in other branches of natural history. After a few months,
133
It is as follows: " I t is also in the lower portion of this belt
[ Coastal plain of Texas] ( where the Palm tribe is represented by
the Chamaerops Palmetto) that the Palmetto attains a growth as
gorgeous even as that on the lower Mississippi; it extends on the
Rio Bravo [ Rio Grande] up to about 80 miles from the Gulf."
" In addition to the Palmetto common to the lower portions of
these two great rivers, the constant appearance of a Tillandsia
( Spanish moss) depending from the branches of the trees in long
clusters increases the similarity of their scenery. Whilst the ex­istence
of this moss pronounces a higher degree of atmospheric
moisture here than in the country above, the occurrence of the
Palmetto may indicate the vicinity of the sea." 2
The reference to a " gorgeous " growth of the cabbage- tree
( Sabal Palmetto) on the lower Mississippi River seemed not as
fantastic as Mark Catesby's reference to its occurrence in New
England ( see article on the cabbage- tree3), but it was, up to last
year, unexplainable. However, we now know that Arthur Schott's
record should have been taken as an interesting clue for investi­gation.
The clue was not followed up; but after a lapse of three-quarters
of a century, this palm was rediscovered by mere acci­dent.
. On the tenth day of April, 1925, while driving from Point
aux Herbes on Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans, Edgar T.
Wherry and the writer unexpectedly came upon a grove of palms
which evidently represent the kind referred to by Arthur Schott
in the above quotation. To meet with erect- stemmed palms far
from February to April, in Washington and New York, he returned
to the field in May, 1853, going overland to New Orleans and across
country to the Rio Grande. Before the end of the year he was again
in Washington, working on official reports for the survey. Late in
1854 he again took the field, at the western end of the Boundary, going
by way of the Isthmus to San Francisco, and returning down the coast
to San Diego, where he arrived about the first of November. Most
of the year 1855 he spent along the lower Colorado River and in
Sonora, and in 1856 and 1857 was at Washington, still connected with
the Boundary Survey. Late in 1857 he spent several months with a
surveying party in the Atrato River region of Colombia. The re­mainder
of his life was spent in the employ of various governmental
bureaus in Washington, where he died 26 July, 1875.— JOHN HENDLEY
BARNHART.
2 Report, United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, i 2 : 44. 1857.
3 Journal of The New York Botanical Garden 24: 145- 158, 1923.
134
out of the known range of any such plant was a great surprise. A
first glance at the trees naturally suggested the cabbage- tree
( Sabal Palmetto). A second glance indicated something quite
different. This palm, although resembling the cabbage- tree in
habit, is really related to the blue- stem ( Sabal minor). As this
discovery was the direct outcome of the interest and cooperation
of Mr. Charles Deering, this palm has been named Sabal Deer-ingiana.*
Shortly after Schott's note appeared, the country inhabited by
the palm under consideration was referred to by C. C. Parry5 in
the following sentence: " The flora of this strip of country
[ Coastal Plain of Texas] is too well known to require an account
here, had we the necessary data for describing its characteristic
botanical productions." 6 The italics are ours. Now, whatever
this sentence may have been intended to mean is not clear, but it
4 Torreya 26: 34- 36. 1926.
5 Charles Christopher Parry was born 28 August, 1823, at Adming-ton,
Gloucestershire, England. He came to America with his parents
before he was ten years old, and his boyhood was spent on a farm in
Washington County, New York. He was educated at Union College,
and at Columbia, where he made the acquaintance of Professor John
Torrey, who encouraged the interest he had already felt in botany.
Receiving his medical degree in 1846, he went at once to Davenport,
Iowa, which was his home throughout nearly fifty years of wandering,
as a plant collector and intelligent field- observer. He was botanist of
Owen's geological survey of the North- west, in 1848, and of the Mexi­can
Boundary Survey, in 1849- 51, and was at various times connected
with other exploring and surveying parties, but when not so affiliated,
he spent nearly every season in private botanical collection. Besides
his work on the flora of Iowa and neighboring states, he acquired a
critical field- knowledge of the plants of the entire Rocky Mountain
region, the Pacific coast, the south- western states, and northern Mex­ico.
He was always on the lookout for new plants worthy of cultiva­tion,
and many were introduced by him; he was the discoverer of the
blue spruce, the nut pine, the Parry lily, and a host of other plants
now well known. Many species of plants were named for him, and
serve as perpetual reminders of his career both to the botanist and the
horticulturist. Late in the year 1889 he returned from a visit to vari­ous
parts of the northern Atlantic coast to his home at Davenport,
where he died 20 February, 1890. His herbarium, of many thousand
specimens, was purchased by the Iowa Agricultural College at Ames.
— J. H. B.
6 Report United States and Mexican Boundary Survey 2: 9. 1859.
135
FIGURE 3. In a virgin part of a palm grove, where the broad- leaved
plants and palms meet and mingle. In some places the palms dominate,
in other places the broad- leaved plants. If all the fruit of the palm would
germinate and survive, other vegetation would be driven out, but animals
evidentlv help to maintain the present balance. The cedar- elm ( Ulmus
crassifoia), Texas- ebony ( Siderocarpos flexicaulis), mimosa ( Leucaena
pulverulenfa), ash { Fraxinus Berlandieri), and acacia ( Acacia Berlandieri)
often grow with the palm.
136
may have been the cause of retarding botanical exploration in that
region, which was then really almost a virgin botanical field and
it has remained almost in the same condition up to the present
time. The flora of the region in question certainly was not then
" well known," as the above- cited quotation starts out to say.
The real reason for the lack of knowledge concerning the Texas
cabbage- tree was that it grows in a part of Texas that was for a
long time difficult of access and sparsely populated. When the
species was first brought to light it was confused with the eastern
cabbage- tree ( Sabal Palmetto) and later associated with a differ­ent
kind of palm native in southern Mexico, named Sabal mexi­cana.
It was not until in 1901 the plant was given the specific
name of texana1 by O. F. Cook, 8 and shown to be different from
the palms with which it had been confused and associated by
name.
Less, apparently, has been written about the Texan cabbage-tree
than about any other of our palms.
Following are the principal notes that have appeared in print
relating to it after the one cited on a preceding page. In a paper
by Valery Havard9 entitled " Econofnic Notes on the Texana-
Mexican Flora," it is said that the palm in question grows:
7 Inodes texana O. F. Cook, Bull. Torrey Club 28: 534. 1901. Sabal
texana Becc, Webbia 2: 78. 1907.
8 Orator Fuller Cook was born at Clyde, New York, 28 May, 1867.
He graduated at Syracuse University in 1890, and was an instructor
there the following year. For the next seven years, as special agent
for the New York State Colonization Society, he made many visits to
Liberia; since 1898, at first as agent and later as botanist for tropical
agriculture and bionomist of the United States Department of Agricul­ture,
he has repeatedly visited various parts of tropical America. Ever
since 1898, also, he has been an assistant curator and custodian in the
United States National Museum. His scientific interests are of un­usual
breadth, embracing myriapods and general biologic problems as
well as studies on economic plants of tropical regions.— J. H. B.
* Valery Havard was born 18 February, 1846, near Compiegne,
France. Coming to America as a young man, he was graduated at
Manhattan College, New York City, in 1869, and received his profes­sional
degree from the New York University Medical College the same
year. In 1874 he entered the medical corps of the United States Army,
in which he was in active service continuously, rising by successive
stages to the grade of Assistant Surgeon General and rank of colonel,
until retired automatically upon reaching the age limit, 18 February,
137
" In sparse clumps from the mouth of the Rio Grande up the
river to Edinborough, from 20 to 30 feet high, apparently iden­tical
with the Palmetto of South Carolina." 10
In a paper relating to Texan plants, by Sereno Watson/ 1 this
cabbage- tree is referred to as follows: " A palm which in the
1910. It was chiefly in h, is earlier experience at various frontier posts,
in the West, that he devoted much time to the study of economic bot­any,
as well as of the food- plants and drink- plants of Indians, Mexi­cans,
and early settlers. He showed a decided inclination to the useful
and attractive qualities of plants, and it is as a student of such, per­haps,
that he is best known to botanists, although he has published a
number of articles dealing with the flora of Montana, North Dakota,
Texas, Colorado, and Cuba. We may especially refer to the " Reports
of the chief of engineers, U. S. A.." for the years 1878 and 1880, and
more particularly to the " Report on the Flora of Western and South­ern
Texas," published by the U S. National Museum in 1885. While
in Cuba, in 1901, he also published in The Plant World " Notes on
Trees of Cuba,'' of much interest to northern tree- lovers. In 1898, in
our war with Spain, he went to Cuba with a cavalry division, rising to
the rank of chief surgeon of all U. S. troops on the island, and playing
a very important part in expelling yellow fever from it. In 1902, he
was sent as delegate to an International Conference in Brussels, Bel­gium,
and to special manoeuvers of the Medical Department near
Paris, France. In 1904, he was detailed as medical attache with the
Russian Army , in Manchuria. While near Mukden he was captured
by the Japanese and obliged to return by way of Yokohama, an un­expected
event which greatly extended the field of his experience. In
1906, he was transferred to the Surgeon General's office, in Washing­ton,
where he remained on duty until retirement in 1910. Several
years later, in our war with Germany, still enjoying good health, he
offered his services to the government and was sent to Cuba to reor­ganize
the medical department of the army and navy, remaining over
four years in that capacity, and receiving the Cuban " Order of Mili­tary
Merit." In recent years he has been living in retirement at Fair­field,
Connecticut.— J. H. B.
i10 Proceedings, United States National Museum 8: 524- 1885.
11 Sereno Watson was born 1 December, 1826, at East Windsor Hill,
Connecticut. He was graduated from Yale in 1847, spent nine years
( 1847- 56) teaching school and studying medicine ( he took no medical
degree), and five years ( 1856- 61) in the insurance business at Greens­boro,
Alabama. At the beginning of the Civil War he returned to
Connecticut, and became an assistant in literary work to Dr. Henry
Barnard, of Hartford. In 1867 he went to California, and in July of
that year entered the camp, on the Truckee River, Nevada, of Clarence
138
139
present imperfect knowledge of the species cannot be distin­guished
from Sabal mexicana was collected by Berlandier ( n.
877, " Corypha edulis ") near Matamoros, and has more recently
been found on the Texan side of the Rio Grande near Browns­ville
by Dr. Gorgas12 and by Prof. C. S. Sargent. . . . It is said
to be frequently 20 or 25 feet high, with a well- defined trunk 10
or 12 inches in diameter. The petioles are very stout ( 1^ 2 inches
broad at the summit), with a Hgule 6 inches long, and the blade
( 3 feet long or more) cleft a third of the way down between the
plaits, which are an inch broad. The spadix is elongated and
slender; the calyx and petals ( J} 4 lines long) strongly nerved.
The berries are often in pairs, 9 lines in diameter, sweet and
edible; seeds 5 or 6 lines broad by 3 ^ thick, very much larger
than those of any of the Atlantic States' species." 13
A few years later, C. S. Sargent14 published the following note:
King, then in charge of the geological survey of the Fortieth Parallel.
He remained as a voluntary assistant to the botanist of the survey,
who was in poor health, and in March of the following year, by official
appointment, succeeded him. Thus, at the age of forty, he first de­voted
his energies to the science with which his name will always be
associated. He had long taken some interest in plant study, but his
volume on the botany of this survey at once established his reputation
as a scholarly and critical botanist. He became curator of the her­barium
at Harvard in 1870, and so continued for nearly twenty- two
years. His health was permanently impaired by an illness contracted
while on a collecting trip in Guatemala, in 1885, but he continued his
active work of study and publication until his death; this occurred at
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 9 March, 1892.— J. H. B.
112 William Crawford Gorgas was born 3 October, 1854- at Mobile,
Alabama, and died in London, England, 4 July, 1920. A graduate of
the University of the South, in 1875. and of Bellevue Medical College,
in 1879, he entered the medical corps of the United States Army in
1880, being surgeon general from 1914 to his death in 1920. His early
service, like that of most young army surgeons, was at western posts.
His later work in the attack upon yellow fever, resulting in the elimi­nation
of that disease from Cuba and the Panama Canal Zone, brought
him many honors, and spread his fame throughout the world.— J. H. B.
13 Proceedings American Academy 25: 135. 1890.
14 Charles Sprague Sargent was born 24 April, 1841, at Boston, Mas­sachusetts.
After graduation from Harvard University in 1862, he
entered the army, leaving the service at the end of the Civil War as
brevet major of volunteers. He was director of the Arnold * Arbo-retum,
at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, from its establishment in
140
" In Texas, where it was first detected about seventy years ago
by the Belgian botanist Berlandier, 15 Sabal mexicana grows in the
rich soil of the bottom- lands of the Rio Grande from the neigh­borhood
of Edinburg nearly to the Gulf, with Ulmus crassifolia,
Acacia Berlandieri, Fraxinus Berlandieriana, Leucaena pulveru-lenta,
and Erythrina herbacea." 16
The distribution of Sabal texana is confined to a comparatively
small area in the lower Rio Grande Valley. It grows along the
banks of the river, but not on the Gulf of Mexico. Occasionally
one or two trees are found on the banks of the resacas. On the
Texas side of the Rio Grande, beginning at El Salado ranch, ten
miles below Brownsville, the first palms appear in the bend of the
river. Thence they extend up the river three or four miles, in
great abundance. On the Burns' ranch at San Rafael, which ad­joins
El Salado, the palms form large clumps along the river
bank and along the bank of a resaca, which lies within the same
ranch. On the Singer ranch, which adjoins the Burns' ranch, a
very beautiful grove is located between the river and a resaca,
and further up, on the Frank Rabb ranch, the most beautiful
grove of all is located. There the palm trees and a tall cane form
dense thickets or jungles. The palms grow to a height of about
fifty feet and reach their perfection in the last- mentioned grove.
1872 to his death, 22 March, 1927, and thus devoted about fifty- five
years to the study of woody plants. His work in the development of
the Arboretum, and his numerous elaborate publications, have made
his name familiar to all botanists and tree- lovers.— J. H. B.
15 Jean Louis Berlandier was born at Ghent, Belgium, about the
beginning of the nineteenth century. From 1823 to 1826 he was at
Geneva, Switzerland, studying under de Candolle the genus Ribes.
His monograph of this genus was published in 1826, and his treatment
of the same group for de Candolle's Prodromus in 1828. Meanwhile
he had gone to Mexico, and settled as an apothecary at Matamoros,
near the mouth of the Rio Grande, which was his home for the rest of
his life. His plant- collections were numerous, and are represented in
various herbaria; the earlier ones were made in Tamaulipas, Nuevo
Leon, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi; later he made much larger col­lections
in western Texas. He was drowned while crossing a small
stream near Matamoros, in 1851. His manuscripts and drawing are
preserved at the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. The com­posite
genus Berlandiera was dedicated to him by de Candolle, and
many species of plants have been named in his honor.— J. H. B.
16 Silva 10: 43. 1896.
141
142
Heller's hackberry ( Celtis Helleri), from which the long- moss
( Dendropogon usneoides) hangs in great abundance, mimosa
( Leucaena pulverulenta), ash ( Fraxinus Berlandieri), and a tall
cane ( called carrizo by the Mexicans) are the principal plants that
accompany the palmetto- palm on the Rabb ranch, but in addition
to the plants just mentioned, there occur prickly- pear ( Opuntia
Lindheimeri), dildoe ( Acanthocereus pentagonus), ball- moss
( Tillandsia recurvata), Texan- ebony ( Siderocarpos flexicaulis),
and a number of twining vines. The grove contains about ioo
acres of palms. This paragraph and the succeeding ones are
based upon information furnished by Robert Runyon, 17 of
Brownsville, Texas, and observation by the writer in the spring of
1925.
Above the Rabb ranch only a very few scattering palms are
found on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, and there are none
above Santa Maria, which is about 60 miles from the Gulf of
Mexico.
On the Mexico side of the Rio Grande the distribution is con­fined
to a narrow strip along the river. A very pretty grove is
located on the Santa Rosa ranch six or seven miles below Mata­moros,
and a few scattered palms grow along the banks of the
river as far up as the Huasteca ranch. There a large grove ex­tends
about a mile along the river. With the exception of some
trees in Matamoros, the above lines indicate about all the palm
growth on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
Other associated plants in addition to those mentioned above,
and the plants that are common nearly everywhere, are the cedar-elm
( Ulmus crassifolia) and the river- cypress ( Taxodium mu-cronatum).
The common name of Sabal texana, in and around Brownsville,
Texas, is palmetto- palm, while the Mexicans term it " La Palma
17 Robert Runyon was born 28 July, 1881, at Catlettsburg, Boyd
County, Kentucky. In March, 1909, he left Kentucky for Brownsville,
Texas, which has since remained his home. He is a photographer by
profession, and is one of the proprietors of a curio shop in Matamoros,
Tamaulipas, across the river from Brownsville. He was interested in
botany before leaving Kentucky, and has familiarized himself with the
flora of the lower Rio Grande valley, on both the Texan and the Mexi­can
sides of the river. The genus Runyonia was named in his honor
by Rose, and several of the many species discovered by him bear his
name.— J. H. B.
143
de Micharo." The palmetto- palm is extensively cultivated as an
ornamental, and trees may commonly be seen in the yards and the
plazas of towns of the lower Rio Grande Valley, from Point
Isabel to Santa Maria.
The leaves are used as a thatch to cover houses, by the poorer
class of Mexicans. The little houses are called " jacals." The
trunks are used for posts, which are durable in contact with the
soil and last a lifetime. The fruits are edible, and they are sold
in the markets of Brownsville and Matamoros under the name of
" Micharo."
The palmetto- palm grows from thirty to fifty feet tall, and is
very erect, with a round naked trunk when the tree is matured;
but while young the leaf- stalks ( boots) cling to the trunks and
form a lattice work. The crown of leaves is round and always
light- green in color. The leaves do not freeze in cold weather as
easily as do those of other cultivated palms. Its growth is slow,
and a period of twenty- five to thirty- five years is required for a
tree to mature, but when once established it is very hardy. It is
difficult to transplant, but grows readily from seed.
Sabal texana forms dense jungles in some localities with a tall
cane and the hackberry, mimosa, and ash mentioned above, and a
mixture of other small trees and shrubs. In other localities it
grows in fields now cultivated in the river bottoms.
The trees and shrubs that accompany Sabal texana are numer­ous,
in fact nearly every tree that grows in the lower Rio Grande
Valley, occasionally grows with or near the palms. The ones
mentioned above are the most common in the palm groves.
JOHN K. SMALL.
TULIPS1
The constant recurrence of the tulip in flower, in poetry, in gar­den
lecture is justified, if only to keep before the public the name
of a flower preeminently useful for home, window box, city gar­den,
suburban grounds, and country estate.
The tulip ( from the Persian toliban, meaning turban) is a wild-flower
of countries bordering the Mediterranean, such as Pales-
1 Abstract of illustrated lectures given at The New York Botanical
Garden on May 15, 1926, and May 7, 1927.
144
tine, and many kinds are found in Turkestan and in Bokhara, in
the Asiatic desert.
Persons interested in tulip species may see many in the Rock
Garden in The New York Botanical Garden. The tulip of culti­vation
came from Turkish gardens in and around Constantinople.
Most tulips grown during the " tulipomania," the Holland craze
of 1653, were of the striped and feathered flowers known as bi-zarres,
bybloems, etc. The wild tulips have usually pointed, nar­row
petals; and the Dutch, by constant selection, secured broad
rounded petals. These cup- shaped flowers, with gay, striped
colors, were grown up until 1850, over a period of time known
as a quiet one in tulip circles as compared to the craze of the
1600' s. In the middle of the last century the tulip staged a " come­back.''
In 1854 a perusal of a list of some 150 varieties of spring
tulips gives us only bizarres, bybloems, and " roses," all old classes
and with names now unrecognized; by 1874, one finds listed some
of the early single varieties with same names as those that now
bloom in our gardens. These early single varieties have short
stocky flowers with colors yellow, white, pink, pink and white,
purple, and red. There are also double forms of the early tulip.
Then, the " cottage" tulips, slender vase- shaped flowers with
pointed petals and clear but delicate shades of yellow, pink, and
red, came upon the scene. It is said that these tulips received
their name on account of being collected from various old cottage
gardens of England. It is possible to conceive of seedlings, from
old round- petaled tulips, going back to their ancestral character
of narrow, pointed petals. The cottage tulip is taller and more
graceful than the early, and its color more striking. In many
varieties the fragrance, too, is distinct.
The Darwin tulip race came from French seedlings, and repre­sents
a distinct type. It has varieties with tall stems, up to 30
inches, with cup- shaped flowers whose petals are thick, almost
fleshy, and consequently very durable and lasting when cut. This
type has been the most desired of late in gardens. Another group
of tulips, the " Breeder " type, contains varieties also tall and
thick petaled, especially noted and admired for color effects, of
old gold and bronze, of plum, purple, and certain mahogany-brown
shades.
Recommending varieties of the modern tulip for any one par­ticular
use or situation is quite unnecessary. They appear in-
145
dividually; it is a matter of the grower's or viewer's taste. For
instance, one might cite the so- called " Black Tulip." One reads
in the novel of that name by Dumas, which is about the tulip-fanciers
of Holland in the time of William of Orange, of the
quest for the black tulip, of the guarding and care of the three
bulbs eventually produced by Van Baerle, the hero, of the jeal­ousy
of his neighbor Boxtel and said neighbor's consequent at­tempt
to obtain the three precious bulbs; and of the later flower­ing
of the " black tulip" under the loving care of the heroine of
the tale, and the prize of 100,000 florins for it. Today the black
tulip is represented in our collections by a group of " La Tulipe
Noire", an almost black Darwin, and by Faust, Zulu, and others
of the same shade. Perhaps one would today award the prize
to a tulip variety of another color.
An idea often expressed about tulips by persons not well ac­quainted
with them concerns a short season of bloom. This idea
is usually changed after visits to The New York Botanical Garden,
where nearly 250,000 tulips have bloomed in the last eight years.
Yearly visitors have learned that the whole of a planting of 60,-
000 will not bloom at the same time. This season ( 1927) proves
no exception, as the first bloomed in late winter over a warm cellar,
and before the late Darwin tulips are through, the month of May
will be gone. The division of our big collections into early and
late seasons being of about equal proportions, one half, of early
kinds, is planted in the Court of Conservatory Range No. 1, the
other, of late sorts, is planted below the Rock Garden, at the
Fordham Hospital entrance. These tulips, 114 varieties, show
what the possibilities are in stretching the season of bloom, so
much so that they must be viewed at least three times during the
season to get all the beauties of the display. They include ma­terial
for a long spring season of great delight for large or small
garden. The early single tulips give the widest range of color
variation. The striking quality of these early varieties, excluding
the whites and some of the pink and whites, is their brightness.
This is true especially of the reds, one of the earliest of which is
Vermilion Brilliant. Prince of Austria, orange- red, comes a few
days later. The most brilliant of the reds, one of good substance
and lasting qualities, is Couleur Cardinal, cardinal- red with oval
blooms and pointed petals. The outside first color of such a vari­ety
is almost a plum red, but, as with all the other colors, the de-
146
velopment is gradual and the true tone does not show until the
flower is quite old. Three yellow varieties are in the garden dis­play,
Yellow Prince an early round, Mon Tresor, a mid- season
sort with lasting qualities, and Rising Sun, an open cup of golden
tone. Leading away from red on the other side toward the pur­ples
is a fine carmine- purple, Proserpine. This tulip is a long,
strong bloomer, which is fragrant, and endures for several years.
Two with blue tones are Wouverman, a large claret- purple, and
Van der Neer, a large tulip, violet- purple, practically blue at ma­turity.
The well- known series of pink and white tulips, ranging
FIGURE 6. Some of the early tulips in the court of Conservatory Range
No. 1, April 29, 1927. Photograph by Mrs. Wheeler H. Peckham.
from Pink Beauty with rich cherry color down to Rose Hawk
which barely escapes being white, are all excellent bedding sorts,
and while not so showy, are used more in garden combinations
where light touches are needed. The early double tulips present
a very uniform material for bedding, the height and size of bloom
being very constant. The yellow Mr. Van der Hoeff, the yellow
and red Titian, and the variety Tea Rose, made up of pink, white,
and yellow shadings like certain tea roses, are well liked.
The later tulips, which are now perhaps the most popular, are
represented by seventy- seven varieties.
The arrangement of groups of Darwin and other tulips against
backgrounds of evergreens and early flowering shrubs provides a
147
magnificent setting for them. The planting of various perennials
which flower at tulip time under and among the blooms is a com­ing
feature with spring gardens. Mrs. Charlotte Cowdrey Brown,
in " Gardens to Color," gives the following combinations: Alys­sum
saxatile com pactum with bronzy tulips; Bellis perennis with
pink and white tulips; Mertensia virginica with pale yellow tulips,
as Moonlight, etc.; Phlox divaricata with Fawn and other tulips;
Forget- me- not with tulips Tea Rose, Safrano or other doubles, or
Baronne de la Tonnaye, rose pink; primroses ( yellow) with Rev.
Ewbank, Zulu, La Tristesse, La Tulipe Noire, and other Darwins.
With the planting of tulips in beds and borders with Iris and
other flowers becoming usual, combinations from the garden of
Mrs. E. A. S. Peckham, as outlined in Bulletin 20 of the Amer­ican
Iris Society, are adaptable to this purpose.
Some of these combinations follow :
Tulip Bouton d'Or
Iris Half dan
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Moonlight
Tulip Bronze Queen
Iris Ingeborg
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip The Fawn
Iris Ingeborg
Iris Fritjof
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Tulip Inglescombe Yellow
Iris Dolphin
Alyssum saxatile
Tulip Bouton d'Or
Camassia Leichtlini
Tulipa Clusiana
Phlox divaricata
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulipa Gesneriana ixioides
Tulip Miss Wilmott
Wisteria
Pansies ( purple)
Tulip Paladin
Tulip The Fawn
Iris The Bride or Ingeborg
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Tulip Jubilee
Tulip Sophrosyne
Iris Fritjof
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulip Flamingo
Tulip Copernicus
Iris Marechal Victor
Tulip Bleu Aimable
Tulip Honeymoon
Iris Fritjof
Iris Queen Flavia
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulip Sophros} rne
Iris germanica
Scilla campanulata alba
Tulip Cardinal Manning
Tulip Sir Harry
White Wisteria
Iberis
148
Tulip Galatea
Muscari Argaei
Phlox subulata lilacina
Tulip Sir Harry
Iris Charmant
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulipa fulgens lutea pallida
Alyssum saxatile
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Bronze Queen
Tulip Moonlight
Iris Fritjof
Phlox divaricata
Tulip Inglescombe Yellow
Tulip Dainty Maid
Phlox divaricata canadensis
Scilla campanulata Excelsior
Tulip Rev. Ewbank
Iris florentina
Iris germanica
Tulip Sir Harry
Iris florentina
Scilla campanulata Rose Queen
Tulip Gretchen ( Margaret)
Iris Charmant
Primula veris
Tulip Sir Harry
White Violets
Bechtel's Flowering Crab
Tulip Avis Kennicott
Tulip Moonlight
Wisteria chinensis
Phlox divaricata canadensis
( Laphamii var.)
Tulip Prince Albert
Tulip Flava
Iris florentina
Myosotis
Tulip Galatea
Primula Sieboldi
Phlox divaricata canadensis
KENNETH R. BOYNTON.
THE FANNY BRIDGHAM FUND
In 1920, the Garden received an unconditional bequest of $ 30,-
000 from Mrs. Samuel Bridgham, which, at the meeting of the
Board of Managers on January 10, 1921, was designated " The
Fanny Bridgham Fund ' n by the adoption of the following reso­lution
:
" Resolved, That the legacy of $ 30,000 received from the estate
of Mrs. Fanny Bridgham be designated a permanent fund under
the name ' Fanny Bridgham Fund,' and that its income be used,
after investment, for the purchase and binding of books for the
library, unless otherwise ordered by the Board of Managers."
The income of this endowment, about $ 1,400 annually, has been
of noteworthy help in building up the library, during the six years
11 Journal, N. Y. Bot. Gard. 22: 45, 46. 1921.
149
of its expenditure for this purpose, this collection of botanical and
horticultural literature having now become, through the use of
this fund and others, one of the largest anywhere brought to­gether,
including over 35,000 bound volumes and many thousand
pamphlets.
Mrs. Bridgham was a sister of the late Mrs. John Innes Kane,
who has also contributed liberally to endowment funds of the
Garden and otherwise aided its work; they were daughters of the
late Mr. William C. Schermerhorn, who gave $ 10,000 to the orig­inal
fund of $ 250,000 required by the Act of Incorporation, to
enable the Commissioner of Public Parks to appropriate land for
the use of the Garden in 1895. Mr. Samuel Bridgham, before his
marriage to Miss Fanny Schermerhorn, was by taste and profes­sion
a botanical artist; he made several hundred of the drawings
used for figures in the " Illustrated Flora of the Northern States
and Canada."
N. L. BRITTON.
NOTES, NEWS, AND COMMENT
Dr. John K. Small spent parts of April and May in the Gulf
States, from Florida to Louisiana, collecting rootstocks of native
irises. Plants were collected from scores of colonies, particularly
in southern Louisiana and peninsular Florida. More than half a
ton of rootstocks were shipped from the field. In addition to the
material installed at the Garden, a plantation representing all the
species and forms gathered was installed at Fourway Lodge,
Coconut Grove, Florida. While in Louisiana he had the cooper­ation
of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Svihla, whose observations on the
native irises during a residence in that state have added very ma­terially
to our knowledge of this little- known group of plants.
Meteorology for April. The total precipitation for the month
was 2.84 inches. The maximum temperatures recorded at the
Garden for each week were 67" on the 7th, 72° on the 16th, 95.5°
on the 20th, and 65° on the 27th. The minimum temperatures
were 30° on the 4th, 28° on the nth, 31° on the 14th, and 31° on
the 24th.
150
ACCESSIONS
BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY OF DR. J. H. BARNHART,
PURCHASED 1926 ( CONTINUED)
Alii della Societd Toscana di scienze naturali residente in Pisa. Vols.
2- 7. Pisa, 1879- 91.
AUBERT r u PETIT- THOUARS, AUBERT. Cours de phytologie ou de botanique
generate. Primicre seance— Introduction; Seconde seance— Phy-tognomie.
Paris, 1819- 20.
. Cours de phytologie ou de botanique generale, divise en vingt
seances. Paris, 1828.
. Discours sur Venseignement de la botanique. [ Paris, 1814.]
. Genera nova madagascariensia, secundum methodum Jussiae-anam
disposita. [ Paris, 1806.]
Histoire d'un morceau de bois, precedee d'un essai sur la seve
consideree comme resultat de la vegetation. Paris, 1815.
. Le verger francais; ou, traite general de la culture des arbres
fruitiers qui croissent en pleine terre dans les environs de Paris.
Paris, 1817.
. Notice historique sur la pepinicre du roi au Route. Paris, 1825.
•. Observations sur I'enlevemeni d'un anneau complet d'ecorce.
[ Paris, n. d.]
. Phytologie; ou, tablcait general de la botanique. n. p., n. d.
Treizieme essai. Notice historique sur la nature et les fonc-tions
de la moelle et du liber, n. p., n. d.
BETTANY, GEORGE THOMAS. Life of Charles Darzvin. London, 1887.
Catalogue des plantes que la societe botanique de Copenhague pent offrir
a, ses membres au printemps 1877— 180,7. [ Kj0benhavn, 1877- 1897].
COMSTOCK, JOHN LEE. An introduction to the study of botany. Ed. 3.
New York, 1835.
Ed. 4, New York, 1837.
Ed. 16, New York, 1848.
Ed. 18, New York, 1849.
Ed. 22, New York, 1850.
Ed. 30, New York, 1854.
Ed. 38, New York, 1870.
COMSTOCK, JOHN LEE, & COMSTOCK, J. C The illustrated botany. Vol. 1.
New York, 1847.
COOK, MOEDECAI CUBITT. A plain and easy account of British fungi, with
special reference to the esculent and economic species. [ Ed. 3].
Edinburgh, 1904.
Fungi: their nature, influence, and uses. London, 1875.
. New York, 1900.
Handbook of British Hepaticae. Edinburgh, 1907.
Index fungorum brittannicorum. London [ 1865].
One thousand objects for ihe microscope. London, n. d.
I 5 i
. Rust, smut, mildew, & mould. Ed. 3. London, 1872.— Ed. 5.
London, 1886.
COOPER, SAMUEL. A dissertation on the properties and effects of the Da­tura
stramonium or common thorn- apple; and on its use in medicine.
Philadelphia, 1797.
CRUGER, HERMAN. Outline of the flora of Trinidad. London, 1858-
CURLEY, EDWIN A. Nebraska, its advantages, resources, and drawbacks.
New York, 1875.
CUSACK, MARY FRANCES. A history of the city and county of Cork. Dub­lin,
1875.
DAME, LORIN Low, & BROOKS, HENRY. Handbook of the trees of New
England. Boston, 1902.
DANA, MRS. WILLIAM STARR. HOW to know the wild flowers. Ed. 5.
New York, 1893.
DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT. Insectivorous plants. New York, 1886.
. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. New
York, n. d.
. The origin of species by means of natural selection. New York,
n. d.
. The movements and habits of climbing plants. Ed. 2., rev.
New York, 1888.
— -. The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species.
New York, 1886.
DARWIN, CHARLES ROBERT, & DARWIN, FRANCIS. The power of movement
in plants. New York, 1888.
DARWIN, ERASMUS. The botanic garden. Fifth American edition. New
York, 1798.
DELILE, ALIRE RAFFENEAU. Memoire sur le Madura aurantiaca. n. p.
[ 1835].
DENNSTEDT, AUGUST WILHELM. Nomenclator botanicus; seu, enumeratio
alphabetica omnium hucusque cognitorum vegeiabilium. Part 1.
Eisenbergae, 1810.
DESCEMET, JEAN. Catalogue des plantes du Jardin de Mrs- les apoticaires
de Paris. [ Ed. 2] Paris, 1759.
DESHAYF. S, PIERRE MARIE. Carte botanique de la methode naturelle d'A.
L. de Jussieu. Paris, an IX ( 1801).
DESMAZIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE HENRI JOSEPH. Observations botaniques et
soologiques. Lille, 1826.
DEVRIES, WILLIAM L. Spring plants of St. Paul's School. St. Paul's
School, 1882.
DEWAR, DOUGLAS, & FINN, FRANK. The making of species. London, 1909.
Dictionnaire botanique et pharmaceutique. 2 vols. Paris, an X ( 1802).
Die international Polarforschung 1882- 1883. Die deutschen Expeditionen
und ihre Ergebnisse. 2 vols. Berlin, 1890- 91.
DIETEL, PAUL. Beitrage zur Morphologic und Biologic der Uredineen.
Cassel, 1887-
152
DIETRICH, FRIEDRICH GOTTLIEB. Neu entdeckte Pfianzen. Vols. 1- 8, 10.
Berlin, 1825- 40.
DILLENIUS, JOHANN JAKOB. Catalogus plantarum circa Gissam sponte nas-centium.
Francofurti ad Moenum, 1718.
DONN, JAMES. Hortus cantabrigiensis. Ed. 4. Cambridge, 1807.
. . Ed. 8 . . augmented by Frederick Pursh. London,
1815.
DOWNING, ANDREW JACKSON. The fruits and fruit trees of America. Ed.
14. New York, 1853.
DRAKE, DANIEL. Natural and statistical view; or, picture of Cincinnati
and the Miami country. Cincinnati, 1815.
DREJER, SALOMON THOMAS NICOLAI. Revisio critica Caricum borealium in
terris sub imperio danico jacentibus inventarum. Hafniae, 1841.
DUBEN, MAGNLTS WILHELM VON. Conspectus vegetationis Scaniae. Lun-dae,
1837.
. Handbook i vextrikets naturliga familjer. Stockholm, 1841.
. Ed. 2, edited by F. W. C. Areschong. Stockholm, 1870.
DUPPA, RICHARD. Elements of the science of botany as established by Lin­naeus.
2 vols. London, 1809.
EASTWOOD, ALICE. Bergen's botany; key and flora, Pacific Coast edition.
Boston, 1901.
. Rocky Mountain edition. Boston. 1900.
EATON, DANIEL CADY. A list of the genera of mosses, revised from Dr.
Sauerbeck's list in the Supplement of Jaeger & Sauerbeck's Adum-bratio
muscorum. Blue print. Cambridge, 1894.
ECKER, ALEXANDER. Lorenz Oken; a biographical sketch. London, 1883.
EDWARDS, EDWARD. Lives of the founders of the British museum with
notices of its chief augmenlors and other benefactors. 1570- 1870.
London, 1870.
EGEDE, HANS. A description of Greenland. Ed. 2. London, 1818.
EICHLER, AUGUST WILHELM. Syllabus der Vorlesungen uber Phaneroga-menkunde.
Kiel, 1876.
— . Syllabus der Vorlesungen uber specielle und medicinisch- Phar-maceuiische
Botanik. Ed. 3. Berlin, 1883.— Ed. 4. Berlin, 1886.—
Ed. 5. Berlin, 1890.
ELKAN, LOUIS. Tentamcn monographiae generis Papaver. Regimontii
Borussorum, 1839.
SCHINZ, SALOMON. Primae lineae botanicae ex tabulis phytographicis CI.
D. Joannis Gesneri ductae. Turici, 1775.
SCHRADER, HEINRICH ADOLPH. Hortus gottingensis. Gottingae, 1809.
SCHULTZ, FRIEDRICH WILHELM. Beitrag zur Kenntniss der deutschen Oro-banchen.
Miinchen, 1829.
TRAILL, CATHARINE PARR ( STRICKLAND). Canadian wild flowers; painted
and lithographed by Agnes Fitzgibbon. Montreal, 1868.
TRATTINNICK, LEOPOLD. Thesaurus botanicus. Viennae, 1819.
MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATION
Dr. Robert Abbe
Edward D. Adams
Vincent Astor
F. L. Atkins
John W. Auchincloss
George F. Baker
Stephen Baker
Henry de Forest Baldwin
Edmund L. Baylies
Prof. Charles P. Berkey
C. K. G. Billings
George Blumenthal
George P. Brett
George S. Brewster
Prof. N. L. Britton
Prof. Edw. S. Burgess
Dr. Nicholas M. Butler
Prof. W. H. Carpenter
Marin Le Brun Cooper
Paul D. Cravath
James W. Cromwell
Henry W. de Forest
Robert W. de Forest
Rev. Dr. H. M. Denslow
Benjamin T. Fairchild
Samuel W. Fairchild
Marshall Field
William B. O. Field
James B. Ford
Childs Frick
Prof. W. J. Gies
Daniel Guggenheim
Murry Guggenheim
J. Horace Harding
J. Montgomery Hare
Edward S. Harkness
Prof. R. A. Harper
T. A. Havemeyer
A. Heckscher
Hon. Joseph P. Hennessy
Frederick Trevor Hill
Anton G. Hodenpyl
Archer M. Huntington
Adrian Iselin
Walter Jennings
Otto H. Kahn
Darwin P. Kingsley
Prof. Frederic S. Lee
Adolph Lewisohn
Frederick J. Lisman
Kenneth K. Mackenzie
V. Everit Macy
Edgar L. Marston
W. J. Matheson
George McAneny
John L. Merrill
Ogden Mills
Hon. Ogden L. Mills
H. de la Montagne
Barrington Moore
J. Pierpont Morgan
Dr. Lewis R. Morris
Robert T. Morris
Frederic R. Newbold
Eben E. Olcott
Prof. Henry F. Osborn
Chas. Lathrop Pack
Rufus L. Patterson
Henry Phipps
F. R. Pierson
James R. Pitcher
Ira A. Place
H. Hobart Porter
Charles F. Rand
Johnston L. Redmond
Ogden Mills Reid
Prof. H. M. Richards
John D. Rockefeller
W. Emlen Roosevelt
Prof. H. H. Rusby
Hon. George J. Ryan
Dr. Reginald H. Sayre
Mortimer L. Schiff
Henry A. Siebrecht
Valentine P. Snyder
James Speyer
Frederick Strauss
F. K. Sturgis
B. B. Thayer
Charles G. Thompson
W. Boyce Thompson
Dr. W. Gilman Thompson
Louis C. Tiffany
Felix M. Warburg
Paul M. Warburg
Allen Wardwell
H. H. Westinghouse
Bronson Winthrop
Grenville L. Winthrop
MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mrs. Robert Bacon Mrs.
Miss Elizabeth Billings Mrs.
Mrs. Edward C. Bodman Mrs.
Mrs. N. L. Britton Mrs.
Mrs. Andrew Carnegie Mrs.
Mrs. Fred. A. Constable Mrs.
Mrs. Charles D. Dickey Mrs.
Mrs. John W. Draper Mrs.
Mrs. Carl A. de Gersdorff Mrs.
Miss Elizabeth S. Hamilton Mrs.
Mrs. A. Barton Hepburn Mrs.
Mrs. Robert C. Hill Mrs.
Mrs. Frederick C. Hodgdon Mrs.
Walter Jennings Mrs.
Bradish Johnson Mrs.
Delancey Kane Mrs.
Gustav E. Kissel Mrs.
Frederic S. Lee Mrs.
William A. Lockwood Mrs.
A. A. Low Mrs.
David Ives Mackie Mrs.
John R. McGinley Mrs.
Pierre Mali Mrs.
Henry Marquand Mrs.
Roswell Miller Mrs
Wheeler H. Peckham Mrs.
George W. Perkins
Harold I. Pratt
Wm. Kelly Prentice
James Roosevelt
Arthur H. Scribner
Samuel Sloan
Charles H. Stout
Theron G. Strong
Henry O. Taylor
John T. Terry
Harold McL. Turner
Cabot Ward
William H. Woodin
HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Mrs. E. Henry Harriman Miss Olivia E. P. Stokes
GENERAL INFORMATION
Some of the leading features of The New York Botanical Garden
are:
Four hundred acres of beautifully diversified land in the northern part
of the City of New York, through which flows the Bronx River. A native
hemlock forest is one of the features of the tract.
Plantations of thousands of native and introduced trees, shrubs, and
flowering plants.
Gardens, including a beautiful rose garden, a rock garden of rock-loving
plants, and fern and herbaceous gardens.
Greenhouses, containing thousands of interesting plants from America
and foreign countries.
Flower shows throughout the year— in the spring, summer, and autumn
displays of narcissi, daffodils, tulips, irises, peonies, roses, lilies, water-lilies,
gladioli, dahlias, and chrysanthemums; in the winter, displays of
greenhouse- blooming plants.
A museum, containing exhibits of fossil plants, existing plant families,
local plants occurring within one hundred miles of the City of New York,
and the economic uses of plants.
An herbarium, comprising more than one million specimens of Amer­ican
and foreign species.
Exploration in different parts of the United States, the West Indies,
Central and South America, for the study and collection of the character­istic
flora.
Scientific research in laboratories and in the field into the diversified
problems of plant life.
A library of botanical literature, comprising more than 35,000 books
and numerous pamphlets.
Public lectures on a great variety of botanical topics, continuing
throughout the year.
Publications on botanical subjects, partly of technical scientific, and
partly of popular, interest.
The education of school children and the public through the above
features and the giving of free information on botanical, horticultural,
and forestal subjects.
The Garden is dependent upon an annual appropriation by the
City of New York, private benefactions and membership fees. It
possesses now nearly two thousand members, and applications for
membership are always welcome. The classes of membership are:
Benefactor single contribution $ 25,000
Patron single contribution 5,000
Fellow for Life single contribution 1,000
Member for Life single contribution 250
Fellowship Member annual fee 100
Sustaining Member annual fee 25
Annual Member annual fee 10
Contributions to the Garden may be deducted from taxable Incomes.
The following is an approved form of bequest:
/ hereby bequeath to The New York Botanical Garden incorporated under
: he Laws of Neiv York, Chapter 285 of 1891, the sum of
All requests for further information should be sent to
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
BRONX PARK, NEW YORK CITY